Blood Runs Deep (ON HOLD)
by girl-at-home13
Summary: Samantha Daley has grown up watching her father become the Police Commissioner of Chicago. It's been her dream to become just like him. Joining the Intelligence Unit could make or break her. Does she have what it takes to cut it on Voight's team? Will she let matters of the heart destroy everything that she's worked so hard for? Or will she rise above to become the best Detective?
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**A/N: Hey there! I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter. It's pretty much introducing my OC Samantha Daley who is portrayed by Emily Vancamp. I'll be following the show from the beginning, so season 1 episode 1. I'd love to know what you think! :)**

**Blood Runs Deep**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning **

**Samantha's Point of View**

_When I was a little girl I used to sit on my parent's bed and watch my father get ready for work in awe. I watched as he buttoned up his light blue collared shirt one button at a time with his head held high and proud. Then he would pull his black bulletproof vest over his head and secure it tightly around his upper torso. He would always let me pin his badge onto his uniform. The tiny metallic star shaped badge had, 'Patrolman of the Chicago Police Department' engraved onto it._

_It was thrilling to see my father go from a run of the mill loving guy to this tough street smart cop in a matter of minutes. When he wore his uniform he held himself in a completely different way, he stood tall and proud with purpose and his shoulders back. I knew back then I wanted to be a cop. I wanted to help people like my father and be looked at the way people looked at him. _

_"__Got to go save the day, peanut." He would say as he carried me downstairs for breakfast once he was finished getting ready._

_"__You're like superman daddy! One day I want to be just like you!" I would squeal and wrap my arms around his neck. He'd laugh his gruff hearty laugh and plop me down on the counter to pour him a cup of coffee to go. _

_"__Well then that would make you superwoman, now wouldn't it?" He would grin while I played with the hat to his uniform. It looked sort of like a conductor's hat with a checkered pattern around the bottom._

_"__Just you wait and see, I'm gonna be a copper just like you when I get older. I know I will." I would say sternly._

_"__I bet you will be one of the best cops out there, peanut." He'd smile at me proudly. _

_I would stand barefoot on the counter and place his hat upon his head for him every morning. It was like our ritual. He worked late most nights so the mornings were our time together. Once we were finished in the kitchen he'd help me hop off the counter and I'd walk with him to the front door. He'd kneel down in front of me for a bear hug and kiss my nose making me giggle. _

_"__Take care of your momma now." He'd whisper before holding out his pinky finger for me to latch mine onto. I'd nod my head and smile. Then he would look over my shoulder and tell my older brothers to take care of me. _

_"__You and me dad?" I would say arching my eyebrows at him inquisitively._

_"__Me and you kid." He replied smiling then he would be out the door. _

* * *

I stood staring at my reflection in the mirror adjusting the leather gun holster on my right side and the shiny newly engraved metal badge beside it remembering the exact day I declared I would become a cop. It was in my father's blood and it was in my brother's blood as well. I felt it coursing through mine every second of every day. I've wanted this for so long and now it's finally happening. Today is the beginning of everything for me. I've worked my ass off at the academy to graduate top of my class. I'm one of the youngest ever to ace the Detective Exam on the first try. Let's hope I don't screw it up too much, at least not on the first day anyway.

Being young has its advantages and disadvantages. I can run a mile in eight minutes. I can do fifteen pushups and twenty nine sit ups per minute. I can knock a guy on his ass by myself if need be. None of that matters when you get down to it though, I'm twenty three. In the eyes of most men and some women I'm naïve and not capable of handling high stress situations or making the hard calls. Because of that no one wants to take a chance on me. At least they didn't until now, thanks to my father.

All the years of late nights at the office and over dosing on caffeine finally paid off for my father.

Four years ago he was promoted making him the new Police Commissioner of Chicago. At one of our weekly dinner's I mentioned how I'd been rejected from almost every precinct in the city and the next morning I got a call from a Sargent Platt to come in for an interview. I am extremely grateful that someone is willing to give me a chance. I just really wanted to do this on my own without the influence of my father's authority backing me. It's hard enough walking in his shadows everywhere I go, plus my brother's as well.

At twenty three I would like to say I have my life figured out, but I would be lying. I still eat cold leftover pizza for breakfast and do my laundry at midnight. All of my relationships have burned and flamed out because of my dedication to my job. While my personal life may be a mess most of the time, being a cop is the one thing that I am good at.

I bustled about my tiny studio apartment finishing up getting ready while I listened to the news playing in the background. The news reporter was talking about another new drug that has been found on the streets that kids are overdosing on. I shook my head feeling my heart sink for all the parents that had to bury their children too soon. That's not how it's supposed to work. The children are supposed to bury their parents. Jax my Scottish Fold cat sunbathed in the window soaking up the warm rays and watched me. He meowed as I headed into the kitchen.

"I won't forget to feed you, Jax." I reassured him.

I pulled a half empty bag of cat food out of the cabinet and filled his small ceramic bowl to the top then wrote cat food on the chalkboard hanging on the fridge reminding myself to pick more up on my way home from work.

I poured myself a second cup of coffee and glanced at the clock on the microwave above the stove. It read seven o'clock.

"Shit..." I muttered grabbing my keys and purse off the counter and gulping down the rest of my coffee before placing it on the counter because the sink was full of dishes. I would be mortified if I showed up late to my first day with a new unit. I still had to check on my mother too.

"See you later, Jax." I said rushing out the front door.

* * *

Sitting at a red light I fished through my purse searching for my cell phone to call my mother. It's been about a week since I've heard hide or hair from her which in her condition is usually never a good thing.

A horn honked behind me alerting me the light had changed to green forcing me to toss my purse in the passenger seat and get moving. I'm only five minutes away from my mother's apartment downtown. Calling her really wouldn't do much good anyway; she never answers the damn phone I bought her for emergencies anyway. It had always been my job to take care of her, even when I was younger.

My mother had gotten pregnant at a young age with my two older brother's Brett and Mike. She ended up dropping out of high school and giving up her dreams of becoming a lawyer to become a full time mother despite her dismay. Then after a few years I came into the picture. To the outside world we were the picture perfect family. We attended family barbeques in the summer and posed for Christmas cards in December. You know the ones that look so happy and carefree in the fake photo you see placed inside a new picture frame. But, on the inside it wasn't at all what it seemed.

My father worked most of the time to ascend his way through the ranks at 19th division, leaving my mom home to take care of us. Most days you could tell she was unhappy with her life. I mean she took care of us, but to the minimum. There was extra love or support given on her end whatsoever.

I maneuvered my way through the bustling and busy streets of downtown Chicago during morning rush hour traffic. I've lived here my entire life and honestly couldn't see myself living anywhere else. The city is so full of life and excitement. It's never a dull moment that's for sure. One thing I adore about the city is having so many different unique people thrown together in such a small area. Although, being a beat cop for two years showed me areas of the city I never wanted to see.

After parallel parking on the street I grabbed my cell and stepped out of my Suburban into the crisp cool autumn morning air. The sound of traffic filled the air as I walked quickly to the door of the apartment building rubbing the sides of my arms to knock off the chill that I had. I cleared my throat as I hit the buzzer to apartment 34 repeatedly. I needed my mother to buzz me in. I held my finger over the intercom rattling the door handle.

"Mom, it's me! Open the door." I spoke into the tiny speaker rolling my eyes feeling a slight pang of worry wash through me.

"Mom, come on open up." I said again growing impatient. It was around seven in the morning. I didn't really want to hit every single call button on the door to see if someone would buzz me in like I've had to do so many times before. I glanced over my shoulder to see her car parked on the curb, and by on the curb I literally mean on the curb. I shook my head in disappointment.

Obviously, she wasn't going to buzz me in so I would have to find another way in. I needed to be at work in twenty minutes so it's not like I could stand here and wait for someone to exit the building and grab the door. I pulled my cell out of my back pocket as I wondered around to the back of the building. I called my mother only for the call to go straight to voicemail. Angrily, I shoved my phone back in my pocket and started up the creaky wrought iron fire escape. Her apartment was on the fourth floor so this would be a nice little pre work warm up.

I made my way to the top of the fire escape and came to her window. Peering inside I could see multi colored liquor bottles lining the coffee table and the end tables near the couches. My eyes roamed across the living room landing on her body lying motionless on the carpet. "Mom!" I yelled banging on the window feeling panic washing over me. I tried to open the window only to find that it was locked.

I grabbed the hand gun at my side and turned it around to bust the window open. The glass cracked after two good hits with the butt of my weapon. I knocked a whole big enough into the window to reach my hand in an unlock it. Pushing the window up I quickly climbed in and rushed over to my mother's body.

"Mom! Wake up!" I said rolling her gently onto her back. I placed two fingers on her neck and felt a pulse. She was passed out from the pity party she threw herself apparently. "Mom!" I yelled again frustrated that she always had to do something like this. This wasn't the first time I've found her like this. After my parents divorced when I was eleven things became even harder for my mother. She would stay in bed for days on end and she started drinking like a fish to numb whatever pain she was feeling.

I pushed myself to my feet and walked into the kitchen a got a glass of cold water and walked back into the living room and poured it on her. She awoke startled yelling and coughing. It took her a minute to realize where she was and who I was. "What?" She spat looking up at me from the floor.

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" I asked helping her up off the floor and onto the couch. I grabbed her a hand towel from the kitchen so she could wipe the water off of her face.

"What happened to my window?" She snarled snatching the towel out of my hand. There were shards of broken glass all over the carpet now. I shrugged and shook my head.

"I saw you lying there unconscious and I thought you were dead." I said dryly.

"Well I'm not dead, so you can go on now." She said lifting random bottles off the coffee table searching for one that still had an ounce of liquid left in it. I felt my blood beginning to boil at the sight of her. She looked like a homeless person that lived on the streets. She felt like because she had children her life ended and then dad left her and that just made things even worse.

"I can't keep doing this with you, mom. You need to go to your meetings and check in with your counselor. That's what I am paying for." I said harshly grabbing the liquor bottle out of her hand and placing it in the trash. She scoffed and lit a cigarette glaring at me.

"I don't need you to take care of me. I don't need you at all. I never wanted you or your brothers. You all ruined me. So just go!" She snapped at me. I've heard this speech a thousand times so I'm numb to the blow now. I stood there shaking my head as I continued to clean the bottles off the table.

"I start work with the intelligence unit today." I informed her. Not that she would really even care.

"Your daddy get you that job? Those people are going to hate you." She smirked pulling a small glass bottle of whiskey out of the couch cushions. She was probably right about that. I would look like the spoiled little princess getting what she wants. I placed the trash bag full of bottles by the trashcan and turned on my heel to look at my aging mother. I hate seeing her this way.

"I'll bring you some groceries after my first shift. I'm going to be late, so thanks for that mom. Take a shower and clean up some." I told her before opening the front door and walking out.

I've come to the conclusion that my mother will never change her ways. That's why Brett and Mike have absolutely nothing to do with her now. They ask how she is from time to time, but they don't check on her like I do. She might not love me and I've accepted that, but she will always be my mom until one day she won't be…


	2. Chapter 2: The Bust

**A/N: Thank you for following and reviewing! Enjoy! Drop another review and let me know how I am doing? :)**

**Chapter 2: The Bust**

**Samantha's Point of View**

By the time I arrived at the 21st Precinct my stomach was in knots and I regretted eating the cream cheese bagel I had at home. I felt my stomach churning on the inside. I wasn't nervous about working with the Intelligence Unit I was more worried they would look at me as the Police Commissioners pampered princess of a daughter. Even though I am by no means a princess. Showing up late was the one thing I didn't want to do and now glancing at the clock I'm already five minutes late.

I hopped out of my Suburban and grabbed my bag and slammed the door shut locking it with the key fob as I made my way down the cracking sidewalk to the front of the building.

Hank Voight is the head of the Intelligence Unit as far as I can tell. We've all heard stories about him being a crooked cop, working with dealers on the street and pocketing loads of money, but you never know what to believe coming out of people's mouths. I was willing to give the guy a chance. When he interviewed me he seemed like a pretty tolerable person to work with. Plus, my father picked his unit out of everyone's. There has to be a reason behind it, right?

"What's up Willhites?" I heard a man's voice yell followed by children laughing as I walked past a car and headed up the steps inside the building.

Men and woman in uniform were bustling in and out of the building about to work on the cases they had or head out to the streets for the day. The excitement swelled inside of me as I stood in the middle of the lobby a little unsure of where to go.

People bustled past me as I approached the front desk. A tall woman with peppered hair and a less than pleasing expression on her face noticed me and looked up from her paperwork and stared at me expectantly. "Sargent Platt, nice to see you again." I said warmly giving her a small smile. Her expression never wavered as she rolled her eyes and removed the glasses she'd been wearing.

"And you are?" She questioned me, unenthusiastically.

"Samantha Daley, Detective Samantha Daley I mean. You just saw me a few days ago when I came in for an interview with Hank Voight." I reminded her removing the handgun from my side and placing it gently on the countertop.

She nodded her head and took my weapon in the back to register it in the database before bringing it back to me. I placed it back in my holster immediately and waited for her to say something. She didn't really look all that talkative or friendly if I'm being honest.

"Morning, sunshine!" A man said behind me causing Sargent Platt to roll her eyes and say, "Funny," dryly.

"Here you go Samantha Daley. Fill it out and turn it back in by the end of the day." Platt said handing me a pile of paperwork that looked like a J.K. Rowling novel.

"There's your new boss now." She said flicking her chin gesturing for me to look behind me.

"Thank you." I mumbled before looking over my shoulder to see Sargent Voight coming out of one the offices behind me. He looked pretty tense and keyed up and it was only working on eight o'clock in the morning.

"Atwater, Burgess? I need you two today." He instructed the patrol officers standing behind me. I stepped forward getting his attention.

"Sargent Voight, it's nice to see you again. I'm really honored to be a part of your team, sir." I said extending my hand out for him to shake it and he did. "I hope you're ready to work."

"Always, sir." I replied brushing a strand of loose blonde hair behind my ear.

"I just wanted to thank you for giving me a chance. I know my father recommended me for the position, but I really wanted this job and I'm so grateful." I rambled on and on making an ass out of myself. If I could have stepped outside of my body and smacked myself in the face I would have.

"I'm willing to give you a chance but if you screw up, you're gone. I don't care who you're related too. Like I said during our interview, this is on a trial basis. So don't screw up." He nodded his head and motioned for me to follow him along with the two beat cops Atwater and Burgess.

"Hey, your new aren't you?" The young brunette cop asked me.

I smiled and shook her hand as we followed Voight up a flight of stairs and waited for him to punch in his pass code to unlock the cage door giving us access to the upstairs of the building which was designated specifically for Intelligence.

"That obvious?" I laughed nervously. "I'm Sam." I said looking at her and her partner.

"We know who you are. Commissioner's daughter is a hard face to forget. I'm Kim and this is my partner in solving crime, Kevin." Burgess introduced us. I shook her partners hand and continued to follow Voight up the winding flight of stairs until we reached the top floor.

As soon as we reached the top four sets of eyes were locked on me like I had the black plague. Voight ushered Burgess and Atwater along before stopping to have a chat with a young shaggy haired Asian man. Everyone in the room moved to their respective desks and sat down at them sipping on coffee waiting to get their daily orders. "Boss you got a second." The Asian man asked looking to Voight.

"What do you need, Jin?" He replied moving over towards the wall away from the others in the room.

I stood back a little ways taking everything in, cluttered desks took up most of the space on the floor while bookcases full of files lined the blue painted walls. Voight's office or what I assumed to be his office sat nestled in the back adjacent to the break room. Voight finished his hushed conversation with Jin then gently took my elbow and led me to the center of the room.

I wondered what his conversation with Jin was in regards to but kept to myself.

"Listen up; we've got a few things to go over here. This is Samantha Daley; she'll be working with us until further notice. Jay Halstead meet your new partner. Lindsey your with me from here on out." Voight said looking at a young guy maybe in his mid-twenties with short shaggy reddish brown hair. He nodded his head in my direction staying slumped down in his desk chair fiddling with a pen between his fingers.

"Why do I have to get stuck with the newbie?" Jay asked annoyed and pouting more than anything.

"Because until she arrived you were the newbie, I figured if I put the two of you together when you screw up I can knock out two birds with one stone." Voight challenged him cocking his head to the side.

I held back a small smirk as I walked past his desk to my own and leaned against the edge of it.

"I got a name on those dope deaths. It's a dealer named Rev on South Emerald. As soon as Olinsky gets here, we're gonna get started." Voight began to explain, only for a scruffy older man to appear from behind a bulletin board eating an apple.

"I'm here." He announced. He could have fooled me.

It was a little overwhelming trying to learn all of their names and keep them all straight.

"We're gonna set up a controlled buy. I'm thinking Halstead and Daley in the door. Fresh face comes in handy. Do not go in under any circumstances. Got it?" Voight said looking at me and Jay sternly. I nodded my head in agreement. You never go inside during a deal because it can go south at any moment. They could have a whole gang of people inside waiting to take us down if shit goes sideways.

"All right, one more thing, we've been doing this, what, two months? Now more than ever, we keep everything in house. Understand? I don't care how they run other departments or how you came up. This is Intelligence, this is my unit." Voight addressed the room, letting his eyes land on me briefly at the end. It felt like he was talking to me directly.

"You tell me the truth, so I can lie for you. And if you ever go over my head, it'll be the last head you go over. Everybody goes home tonight." He went on to say.

Voight didn't seem like the type of person you would want to cross or back into a corner. Something told me he'd come out swinging. Everyone in the room agreed silently to themselves.

"Everyone get suited up, we head out in five minutes." Voight said before heading to his office in the back. I removed my brown leather jacket and pulled a dark blue zip up hoodie out of my bag and slipped it on over top of my flowing white tank top blouse and zipped it up midway. I took my hair out its fishtail braid and let it fall loosely around my face while everyone got geared up to leave. I smudged the little bit of mascara and eyeliner that I'd put on off my face quickly.

I looked to put together for anyone to believe that I'm trying to score drugs.

"So, you ever done a deal before?" Jay asked causing me too look up at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest making his burgundy t-shirt pull tight against his broad shoulders. He arched his eyebrows and waited for me to answer him patiently.

"Yeah, this isn't my first rodeo." I reassured him.

"We get there just let me do all the talking." He suggested as I shrugged my shoulders checking the clip in my gun for the third time this morning.

* * *

We left the precinct and headed down about twenty different backstreets before we ended up outside of a rundown red bricked apartment building. Old beat up cars lined the side streets as we walked towards the apartment building. I'd been introduced to Antonio Dawson and his partner Jules on the ride over here. They both seemed really nice. Olinsky brought me up to speed on Rev as well.

A lowlife drug dealer who worked for someone else selling dope to all the school kids. Only the drugs have been laced with something here recently resulting in about six casualties on the street. He showed me a picture of the man, tall, African American with a shaved head.

Jin was the IT guy working in our Unit, he handled all of our wiretaps and transmitters as well as all the cyber stuff back at the office. He gave me a nice silver cellphone with a transmitter built inside of it to keep on me while we do the deal just in case something were to go wrong and I'd be kidnapped they would have a way of locating me, plus it doubled as a wiretap so everyone could listen in on the conversation we had with Rev.

We all met up about two streets away from the apartment building and Jay and I handed over our weapons. My heart pounded with each step I took towards the apartment building with Jay. He'd thrown on a zip up hoodie and a beanie to make himself look more like a junkie than a cop. I had to admit if only to myself he was good looking even as a faux drug addict, but so far his social skills needed some work.

"You ready for this?" He asked chewing on a piece of gum looking at me out of the corner of his eye as we headed up a flight of stairs.

"I'm fine, are you?" I asked countering back at him.

"There's nothing to it." He said cockily, as we approached the apartment door.

I tucked myself behind Jay as he began pounding on the door.

"Rev! Open up!" Jay yelled wrapping on the door incessantly.

I looked around fidgeting playing out the part of going through withdraw and needing a fix.

"Rev! Open the damn door, man!" Jay hollered again continuing to slam his hand into the door.

"Hey, you mind keeping it down." Someone said sticking their head out of a nearby apartment door.

"Are we banging on your door?" I asked copping an attitude with the older man and stepping forward, he shook his head no skeptically.

"Then go back inside!" I snapped looking at Jay as he banged on the door again surprised I had taken the initiative to get rid of the bystander on my own. I ran my fingers through my hair and scratched my neck while I tapped my foot on the ground nervously.

"Come on, man!" Jay yelled desperately just as the door to the apartment swung open unexpectedly.

I was expecting to see a bald guy, not a guy with long black hair and a mustache. He clearly wasn't Rev.

"What?" He asked revealing a slight Spanish accent.

"Is Rev here?" Jay asked hopeful.

He eyed us both suspiciously as Jay reached down and grabbed my hand playing the part.

"No, so quit pounding on the door!" He snapped at us attempting to close the door in our face.

Jay placed his hand on the door keeping it just ajar.

"Hey, man, yo, my girl she's going into rehab tomorrow. She wants to go out with a bang tonight. Rev usually hooks me up." He insisted looking at the unknown man standing in the door.

Something just felt off about this guy's whole presence. Call it intuition or whatever you want, but this guy gave me a vibe I didn't like. I continued to stand there holding Jay's hand and fidgeted with the hem of my jacket. His hand was warm, and tough. I could feel several calluses on the palm of his hand. I tried not to focus on his hand in mine.

"You ever been to rehab, man? It sucks." Jay pleaded, with his hand still on the door.

I let my eyes fall to the ground momentarily.

"Come in." The man in the door said, opening the door a bit more.

Jay started to walk inside causing me to want to kill him, we were instructed not to enter. As I looked up I noticed a red stain on the guys pant leg standing in the door and grabbed Jays arm stopping him from entering the apartment. It looked like blood and with the weird feeling I had I didn't want to chance anything.

"What?" He snapped looking directly at me trying to figure out what I was doing.

"We'll come back when Rev's here." I said glaring at the man in the door and then at Jay. He stepped back out of the doorway and looked at me angrily.

"You've been up my ass all morning about scoring some "H"." He spat at me irritated and shaking his head.

"Well, I changed my mind!" I snarled back at him like I hated him. He smirked and shook his head looking at the guy in the door.

"Mujeres, right?" He joked as I kept my eyes locked on him. I kept my head down and a sullen expression on my face as we left the man at the door and headed back down the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3: Pulpo

**Chapter 3: Pulpo**

**Samantha's Point of View**

Once we had walked out of sight from the apartment building Jay stormed off in front of me like a small child having a temper tantrum. He think's I've just blown this entire operation to hell, but I know what I saw on his that guys pants leg. It was red and wet, it looked like blood. I trust my instincts. I know he doesn't know me that well, but he should trust my instincts as a cop.

We'd met up with rest of the group in the nearby alley way.

We stood in a circle and all eyes were on me waiting for some sort of explanation.

"It looked like blood on the guys the leg. The fact that it wasn't the guy Rev, that you showed me and we didn't know that guy made me…" I began to say only for Voight to hold his hand up in the air cutting me off.

"You don't have to justify it. You got a bad hit, you got a bad hit. Let's go in." He said looking at me, then everyone else.

It made me feel better for following my gut and not letting Jay go inside that apartment.

"Sometimes you have to make the calls. You did the right thing," Lindsey said looking at me from across the circle. She handed Jay and I our weapons back and we placed them back on our sides before she handed us bullet proof vests to put on.

"Maybe it looked like blood? That's not probable cause to force an entry." Jules said crossing her arms over her chest, skeptically looking around at everyone.

The wind blew as the subway train above us went by making it a little difficult to hear.

"He could have been marinating a chicken and spilled barbecue sauce on his pants." Antonio said throwing his hands in the air, sighing in frustration. I smirked rolling my eyes and shook my head.

"Yeah, what I saw was not barbeque sauce." I blurted out, without thinking.

"We've got three O.D.'s traced back to the heroin Rev's moving. You want to wait for another kid to die?" Voight snapped letting his voice rise slightly.

"We'll do a knock-and-talk, all right? Whoever's in control of the apartment gets all squirrelly, we'll take it from there." Olinsky suggested looking around the group at everyone.

"It's pretty obvious the guys hiding something, I guess we'll find out if it's a Cornish game hen." I said channeling my inner smartass, and smirked at Antonio.

He rolled his eyes and mouthed 'ha-ha' nudging my shoulder.

Jay stood beside me with his eye fixated on the gravel beneath our feet like he was deep in thought about the case or something else entirely.

"We're going in, back up stand by." Voight spoke into his radio alerting Burgess and Atwater who were waiting around the corner in case we needed immediate assistance.

"Tucked in and ready to go, Boss." Burgess replied.

We made our way back towards the apartment so we could try and talk to the guy inside and see if he knew where Rev was or if he could give us any useful information himself. Voight and Antonio were in the lead talking about marinara sauce and how it burns the chicken when you cook it on a grill, when two shots rang out above our heads.

I drew my gun immediately and held it out in front of me as we all ran for cover behind a few cars.

Lindsey stood beside me with her weapon extended out in front of her as well.

My heart began to pound in my ears loudly, as I looked up at the apartment building with wide eyes.

"Everybody get back." Voight ordered, keeping his composure calm.

My heart continued racing in my ears as I stay protected behind the car.

Everything was happening so fast it was hard to comprehend it all at first, but then the adrenaline kicked in and everything became clear.

"You're bleeding." Lindsey said gesturing towards the side of my head.

"I'm good, I'm fine." I said quickly, swallowing the lump in my throat.

"Get the long guns!"Voight demanded.

Jay and Antonio ran back to the cars and pulled out two high powered rifles while everyone else held their positions, guns locked on the second story of the apartment building where the blaring shots had rang out just moments ago.

Police sirens echoed in the distance as Burgess and Atwater arrived on the scene.

Jay and Antonio took the lead heading cautiously up the flight of stairs towards the apartment. I kept my eyes wide open and my hands locked tightly around my weapon as I held it in front of me moving up the flight of steps.

People had begun to wonder out of their apartments to see what the ruckus was.

"Get back inside!" Olinsky ordered them as he made his way to the door to get ready to breach it.

I stood behind Jay as we all surrounded the door. Olinsky gave us all a nod before knocking the door wide open. We rushed inside guns drawn, ready for what was to come.

"Chicago PD!" Voight yelled making his way through the apartment.

I came to the first door way and peaked inside checking to making sure no one was hiding in there before yelling, "Clear." I held my position while Lindsey moved forward to check the next room.

"Body!" She yelled as everyone else yelled "Clear."

Slowly, we worked our way towards the back of the tiny apartment.

"Rev's in the John." Jay announced as he walked into the living room. I had just lowered my weapon slightly.

"Offender must have booked." Antonio said breathlessly. I felt my hands trembling slightly but ignored it as much as I could. That happened every time I drew my weapon unexpectedly for some reason.

"Call it in. Clear the rest of the building. The shooters in the wind." Voight barked into the walkie in his hand.

I stood there attempting to catch my breath when we all heard a rustling in the closet behind me. I grabbed the handle with one hand and kept my gun pointed down with the other while everyone else trained their weapons on the door. One, two, three I counted in my head. I yanked the door open only to see a young kid with his hands in the air scared out of his mind.

"Jesus." Voight whispered lowering his gun almost immediately.

My eyes landed on a young boy sitting on the floor with his knees tucked up under his head, scared out of his mind.

The kid was probably only thirteen, fourteen years old at best. The gangs around here didn't have an age limit or requirement. If you were born into that life, that's the life you led unless you fought like hell to get out of it. Even if you were lucky enough to get out of it, it always had a way of pulling you back in.

* * *

The boy found in the closet had to be taken into custody and brought back to the station for questioning. If he was hiding in that closet the whole time there's a good chance he heard something useful. The question is will he trust us enough to talk to us? I unclipped my vest and removed it as I walked across the street into the garage of the precinct. Antonio and Jules led the kid inside stopping to let Voight get a look at his face. His poor lip had been busted open and looked puffy.

"Beheading is signature cartel move." Antonio spoke, stating what we all pretty much knew. Jay walked in behind me and headed into the cage pit to remove his vest and reload his weapon.

"Samantha, I want you to put together a description of the guy who answered the door, see if you can find him in any of our databases." Voight said patting me on the shoulder and sending me into the cage pit to reload my weapon, and unload the long guns.

"Hey, is your transmitter on you? It cut out." Jin said causing me to look up at him.

He was talking to Jay, though. He fished around in his back pocket and pulled out two pieces of plastic. Jin took it and sighed giving him a 'you seriously broke another one' type look.

"It got banged up against a wall or something. I'm sorry Jin." He said as he stormed away from Jay. I couldn't help but check the transmitter in my back pocket. It had gotten broke too. I bit my lip and shoved back in my back pocket. Oops, I think I'm just going to hang on to it for awhile. I don't want to give Jin another broken one in the same day.

Jay walked over to the table I was at reloading my gun and did the same.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I owe you one." He said placing his hand quite close to mine on the table and looking at me sideways.

"It's okay. That's what you have back up for." I told him trying to keep things civil between us.

"Really? That's it. You're not going to call me a moron or hit me or say thanks for almost getting me killed on my first day." He offered almost making me crack a smile...almost.

Olinsky walked in carrying two of the rifles and set them back in a locked cabinet.

"Alvin, I'm going to need a fresh face in case we need to do another deal." Voight said to Olinsky sticking his head into the caged room.

"I'll pull someone from the academy." He said patting Voight on the shoulder and walking out.

Jay looked at me waiting for me to reply.

"I really didn't want to state the obvious." I rolled my eyes and side stepped around him and smacked him in the back of the head, "But, thanks for almost getting me killed, moron.". I smirked turning on my heel and making my way upstairs. I heard Olinsky laugh behind me along with footsteps. I turned my head to see Voight walking beside me. I wasn't sure if I should say something or not, so I just kept my mouth shut and continued to walk.

"You're doing fine, kid." He said patting my shoulder and walking past me to reach Platt at the front desk. I felt my cheeks get warm with embarrassment. Is it that obvious that I want to do well? Am I trying too hard? My cellphone in the back of my jeans started to buzz forcing me to pull it out and look at the caller I.D. _Nina _the screen flashed, which meant it was my mother. I ignored the call only for her to call back three more times in a row.

"Hello?" I hissed into the phone.

"Any word on the shooter?" I heard Voight ask Platt over my shoulder.

"Still doing a grid search, brought in the helicopter, but nothing yet. Lieutenant Belden from Violent Crimes is looking for you." She informed him while all I heard on the phone was static.

"I need uh, need uh, another bottle whiskey…" My mother's slurred voice echoed through the phone. I took a deep breath and clenched my hand onto my phone as I checked the time. It wasn't even noon yet and she was already done for.

"Mom I am at work. I'm not going to buy you more liquor. Don't call me again unless it's an emergency." I hissed, before hanging up the phone.

"Is that little Sam Daley?" Someone said behind me grabbing my attention.

It was Lieutenant Belden from Violent Crimes. He knew my father pretty well from his time working with him. He was peering around Voight's shoulder looking at me.

"You're all grown up." He said pulling me into a sideways hug that I really didn't want.

"You two know each other?" Voight questioned, slightly confused.

"He worked with my dad and they play golf occasionally." I said looking at the ground, shoving my hands into my back pockets.

"Anyway, how old is the kid?" Belden asked Voight referring to the boy we'd brought in.

"He's thirteen." Voight replied, I knew he was young.

"You can't interview him without parental consent." Belden said, stating the obvious.

"His dads dead, moms' in jail. I left a message with D.C.F.S." Voight pointed out, growing tired of the conversation.

"You know, running around half-cocked in a gang unit is one thing, but being the boss of an Intelligence Unit is another matter entirely. Your father made a mistake placing you with him. He should have put you with me." Belden said, disgusted by the way Voight runs things. Apparently there's some bad blood between them. I don't think I want to know what about or over either.

"That's funny, because I applied for your unit and I got turned down." I said, smirking and raising my eyebrows shutting him up.

"This is a joint investigation, Sergeant. We share all information." Voight said before turning on his heel and walking away.

I smiled half-heartedly and went to find a sketch artist to work with to put a face on the shooter.

* * *

After about a half hour with the sketch artist we had a half ass image to work with. It wasn't much, but it was a start. I was sitting on the other side of the two way mirrored glass to the interview room watching Antonio and Jewels try to pry some answers out of the kid we'd brought in. I held his file in my hand and looked at how his name had popped up in the gang database. All of his offenses though were mild. Vandalizing, petty theft etc…

"I heard Rev was looking for a runner you know; get his lunch and smokes and lottery tickets and stuff. So, I went over there to see if I could get the job. Someone knocked on the door. He went out of the room. I heard yelling. And that's when I ducked into that closet." The boy explained keeping his head down and picking at the metal table.

"You're in our gang database, D'Anthony. We know you were in the same crew as Rev." Antonio informed him as the door to the room I was in opened.

Jay walked in carrying a bag from Burger King and sat down on the table next to me.

"They getting anything?" He asked taking a huge bite out of the cheeseburger in his hand.

"Not much, yet." I said watching the boy on the other side of the mirror.

He looked so lost and he had to be scared out of his mind. He's just a kid. He's still an innocent.

"Did he piss someone off? Was someone moving in on his action?" Antonio tried again.

D'Anthony kept his jaw clenched shut and hugged himself. I glanced at the takeout bag sitting on the table beside me and peaked inside to see another burger and fries. That's when I got an idea. I walked over to the vending machine and got a Coke and snatched Jay's bag off the table.

"Hey, that's my burger." He said looking at me like I was crazy.

"I'll buy you another one." I said walking it into the other room. Antonio and Jewels looked at me as I set the food down on the table and slide it across to the boy.

"In case you're hungry." I whispered before leaving the room and rejoining Jay.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked stuffing what was left of the burger in his hand in his mouth.

"He's scared. Younger kids affiliated with gangs are all going to look at us like were the enemy. That's what they've been taught. Maybe if we show him he's safe here he'll open up to us." I said looking at Jay then back into the interview room.

D'Anthony was picking at the fries in the bag.

"Plus, when I'm upset I like comfort food. I mean the kid was in the same apartment as someone that got beheaded. He either saw it or he heard it. "I pointed out. Jay smirked and held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Good call, but I'm holding you to that new burger." He said as I rolled my eyes.

"Did you see what happened to Rev?" Jules asked D'Anthony.

"No, but I heard it." He answered after a long moment and a bite of the burger later.

"What all did you hear?" Antonio asked waiting patiently for the boy to open up.

"There were three of them. I didn't see them, but they kept yelling. It was all in Spanish too. I don't really know what they were saying or yellin' about." He confessed.

"Did you hear any of their names maybe?" Jules asked.

"I don't know if it was a name or not, but Rev kept on yellin' out "Pulpo." He said looking at Antonio and Jewels.

They both shared a worried expression like they had heard the name "Pulpo" before…


	4. Chapter 4: Not A Word

**Chapter 4: Not A Word**

**Samantha's Point of View**

What the hell does Pulpo mean? I asked my self silently. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and searched the meaning of Pulpo up on Urban Dictionary. Spanish word meaning "octopus." For the life of me I will never understand gang logic and all of their idiotic code names. Pulpo was Spanish for sure; I hated Spanish, but I took it through high school and then refined my skills in the academy. I still sucked at it though.

I followed Jay, Antonio and Jules back to our desks in the main office and sat down at my newly appointed desk. It didn't have much on it.

I noticed a picture of what I assumed to be Jules's son and daughter on her desk next to mine and smiled.

An Apple desktop computer hummed to life as I gently nudged the mouse to get it going. I started to search through the gang database to find anything out that I could about this guy. Jules tapped her fingers on my desk causing me to look up.

"Take a look at this? Is this your guy in the door?" She asked, handing me a printout of a mug shot.

I took the picture as I stood up and walked around to the front of my desk to join her.

Sure enough, it was the exact same guy Jay and I had seen this morning when we tried to make the deal. He had the long black greasy hair and the same smug look on his face. I nodded my head looking up at Jules.

"That's him, all the way." I said confidently, as she took the photo and pinned it to the task board hanging on the nearby wall.

It didn't take too long to pull this guy's criminal file. He had a rap sheet a mile long…

"Adres Dias, aka Pulpo, the Octopus." Antonio said as he wrote the guy's name above his picture on the white board.

"It says here, he's got dual citizenship here and Colombia." I chimed in leaning against the end of Halstead's desk as I scanned through this dumbass's file.

"Jules and I had him on our radar five years back when he was working his way up from street enforcer." Antonio informed everyone while I helped Jules unpack more files that had been brought up from storage in the basement.

"Yeah, I remember his name. Didn't he beat a double-murder rap?" Voight said curiously, making his way towards the whiteboard to get a better look at the mugshot.

If this guy beat a double-murder rap he's definitely cunning.

"The two key witnesses were killed." Jules said, handing a file over to Antonio.

I was kneeling on the ground looking through the mountains of paper work and images on Pulpo.

"How convenient." I muttered looking up to see Jay slumped down in his desk chair watching me. He quickly looked away and back up to the board before our eyes met.

"Was he cutting off heads back then too?" Lindsey added unamused, before taking a bite of a granola bar.

"No, he learned a thing or two since he was in Colombia." Antonio explained.

Even though I've only been here for a few hours I could tell that Antonio and Jules made an incredible team. You could see it when they were interviewing D'Anthony. They were seamless. I could see it now as they moved together writing information on the task board as well.

"What type of player was he? What part of the city did he hold down?" Jay questioned leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees making him that much closer to me. I got to my feet and placed my hands in the back of my pockets absorbing all of the information swirling around me.

"Oh, see, that's the thing. He wasn't affiliated with any faction. Nobody knew his real script. He was just in it for the money and the blood." Antonio explained.

So we've got a guy working the room from all angles here. He doesn't want his name on one particular thing, but everything.

"Okay, you three in my office." Voight instructed looking at me and Jay as well as Antonio.

It felt like I was being called to the principal's office as I followed Jay and Antonio into the room. I'd never been called to the principal's office a day in my life. Well, technically that's a lie. When I was ten I punched a boy in the face on the school playground because he made a rude comment about my mother. He got a broken nose and I got suspended for a week. Something told me Voight was more freighting than any school principal I could have ever crossed paths with.

"You ever heard the expression "10% percent of the cops do 90% of the work"?" Voight asked us, as I crossed my arms over my chest and watched him pull on his black leather jacket.

Jay and Antonio stayed silent as Voight's eyes bored into me and them.

"I have, sir. My father used to say it all the time." I replied cautiously. I wasn't sure if this were one of those moments where we should actually answer him or keep our mouths shut. I took a leap of faith and answered him.

"Well, this Intelligence Unit is part of the 10%." He said, stepping towards Jay slightly making eye contact with him. Jay stood silent in front of him with his arms locked behind his back like he was standing at attention. That's when I realized he did that a lot today, which only told me he must have been in the army or marines.

"With that said, I appreciate your aggressiveness, but you were instructed to do an undercover buy in the doorway. I never told you to cross the threshold. If you had, you and Sam might not have gotten out of there alive." Voight reprimanded him. I felt a little bad for Jay. I mean he had already apologized for his cockiness almost getting us both killed. I was willing to let it go.

"We are a team, and we are responsible for each other when we're out there. She took responsibility for you today." Voight said looking at me. I nodded my head accepting his compliment, nonchalantly.

"You, you vouched for him. Keep him in line." Voight said giving Antonio a stern look as he patted Jay on the shoulder and side stepped around him to exit his office.

"Get your head outta your ass." Antonio said smacking Jay on the back of the head before leaving the room as well.

Jay and I both went for the door at the same time and ended up colliding into each other's shoulders. I froze and laughed as he stepped back smirking holding out his hand gesturing for me to go first like a gentleman…

* * *

Voight and Lindsey had taken a little trip to go gather some information from a few of the Criminal Informant's that they knew. They wanted to see if anyone of them had heard about what happened to Rev and if anyone knew anyone who might know someone from Rev's crew. One of Voight's CI's pointed us in the direction of a one Eric Cooper. I'd looked up his information after Lindsey had texted me to do so.

I pulled my hair up into a messy bun as we walked down the cracked sidewalk to Eric Cooper's home address. The neighborhood looked like your typical neighborhood in the slums of Chicago, houses built on top of other houses. It wasn't that the people were too poor to fix their homes or clean up their neighborhood, they just had no desire too. Graffiti lined the streets in different places while yards were covered with burnt grass and trash.

"So a bunch of us are getting together tonight at Molly's. We usually do it every night or every other night just to unwind from the day. You should stop by to celebrate your first day." Lindsey said walking up beside me. She gave me a warm smile as I nodded my head.

"Maybe I will." I smiled.

It would be nice to try and get to know everyone a bit better. I never expected I'd be working a case on my first day. There really wasn't much time for us to get to know one another other than the hello my name is…

Antonio and Jay marched up the steps of a rundown home with light blue paint peeling off the wooden siding.

I placed my foot on the bottom step and scanned up and down the street. "Eric Cooper, Chicago PD open up!" Antonio yelled pounding relentlessly on the door.

I noticed Jay eyeing the area of the door around the doorknob and deadbolt and immediately saw what he saw.

"Pry marks." He said looking over his shoulder as I placed my hand on my weapon and drew it.

"Breach." Voight said, giving him the go ahead to blow the lock off the door with his hand gun.

The shot rang out piercing my ears as he kicked in the door. We followed him inside in formation. I peered into the room just inside the door to the right, "Clear." I said not seeing anyone in the room. I heard the word "Clear" being called out from other areas of the home when an overwhelming metallic odor of blood smacked me in the face.

There was a dead body lying in the kitchen surrounded by a pool of blood, I looked up letting my eyes land on what everyone else was staring at.

Eric Coopers head sat atop the kitchenette bar staring back at us. I shuddered as I placed my hand over my mouth trying to hold back the vomit resting in the back of my throat.

"The next head I see better be Pulpo's." Voight declared glancing around at all of the members of his unit, including me…

My stomach tossed and turned the longer I stared at the blood running down the counter from the bottom of Eric Cooper's head. His eyes remained opened staring back at me. I'd conveniently avoided looking in the bathroom at Rev's place this morning unwilling to let the gruesome scene get the best of me, but this did me in.

I ran out the front door of the home and leaned over the railing and felt the vomit leave my mouth. I hurled all over the bushes below and stood there hunched over trying to slow down my breathing.

"It'll get you…" Jay said as I turned my head to glare at him.

He stood there by my side smirking and letting his hands rest inside his vest.

"Not a word." I hissed, knowing I would probably never be able to live this down. I straightened up and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Absolutely…" Jay smirked chuckling as I continued to glare at him.


	5. Chapter 5: I'm A Beer Girl

**Chapter 5: I'm A Beer Girl**

**Samantha's Point of View**

The image of that guy's head resting on top of the breakfast bar in his home became etched into the back of my brain by the end of my first shift. It was a little after nine o'clock at night when Sergeant Voight released us from the scene to go home for the night. The street was illuminated with bright florescent red and blue flashing lights from the cop cars parked outside the crime scene. Puking in front of Jay earlier today was mildly humiliating I'll have to admit.

One hell of a first day...

I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand as I pushed the rickety grocery cart down the frozen food aisle randomly stopping and pulling items out of the refrigerators here and there. I felt my cell phone vibrating in my back pocket and pulled it out glancing at the caller ID, _Daddy_.

"Hey, old man." I laughed lightly turning a corner in the store and placing some V-8 Tomato Juice in the cart then continuing on down the aisle.

"Peanut, so how'd it go today?" My father asked on the other end of the line.

"It went alright; I mean I think it went well. It did. It went great." I rambled on trying to hide my own skepticism.

I grabbed a gallon of milk and placed it in the cart as well as a block of cheddar cheese. My cart was half full of healthy items to make a salad with and a few frozen dinner entrees.

"I'm sure you did fine. I mean he didn't fire you, so take it as a win." Dad joked as I rolled my eyes and laughed quietly to myself heading for the check-out counter. They paged someone over the intercom to the store as I found a relatively empty check-out lane.

"Are you in the store?" My father asked as I glanced at the new issue of People Magazine sitting in the racks lining the check-out lane. It was all the latest news about the Royal Wedding and Royal Baby. I fought back the urge to vomit at the thought of marriage and shook my head. Marriage was a sore subject, especially after what happened to me... I shook the thoughts from my mind.

"Yeah, just picking up a few things for mom then probably heading home for the night. I'm exhausted, and have to be up early in the morning." I said as the older woman checking out in front of me moved up slightly giving me enough room to start placing some of my items up on the conveyer belt.

"How's she doing?" Dad asked with a sigh. He still loved my mother despite everything they put each other through. I don't blame him for ending things with her though. Between the surface conversations they had together, they still never really even talked. Sometimes I would hear them screaming at each other, when they thought I was sleeping over nothing at all when I was younger. I would pray for them to get divorced, as terrible as that may sound.

"She's the same as she's always been..." I whispered clearing out my cart.

I smiled at the woman scanning my items and placing them in brown paper bags.

"You know you don't have to bear all of that alone." Dad said as it sound like he was trying to get out of his chair, grunting and moaning. He'd had a knee replacement put in a few months ago so he was still having a hell of a time getting around.

"Yeah, well Brett and Mike could tag in sometime you know, maybe if you mention it to them." I suggested hopeful, but knowing they wouldn't. They're too busy with their own lives to worry about mom.

"I'll talk to them Sunday night; you're still coming to dinner, right?" Dad asked as I dug through my purse searching for some cash to pay for the food I'd just bought. I handed the lady checking me out a $50 dollar bill and waited for my change.

"Dad, don't I always show up for Sunday dinner? It's mandatory. Look, I got to go. Love you!" I chimed into the phone, hearing him say he loved me back before hanging up the phone quickly.

"Sorry, about that." I mumbled accepting the change from the cashier.

I hated talking on the phone in the store, but I didn't want to be rude to my father and not answer his call.

After loading up the car with groceries I headed over to my mother's apartment. Surprisingly, she buzzed me in after five minutes of pressing the intercom button repeatedly. I unpacked her groceries and cleaned up all the liquor bottles she'd neglected to throw away from this morning before I decided to leave her be for the night. She didn't ask how my day went, and I didn't tell her. I was too exhausted to end up arguing with her...

* * *

The night air was cool and chilly as I made it back to my Suburban. After climbing in and closing the door, I hit the automatic lock button and closed my eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths trying to calm my nerves from the events of today. I rested my head against the headrest and heard the sounds of the traffic whizzing past me on the street. Lindsay had invited me out for a drink tonight at Molly's I just didn't know if it would be weird to go or not. I'm the new girl still. There's only one way to get to know them though, I supposed.

Turning the ignition over I decided I would stop by Molly's and just say a quick, "Hey" before calling it a night. The case we were working on had my mind boggled as I mentally went over all of the evidence in my head. I kept thinking about D'Anthony, he was just a thirteen year old kid and he witnessed a beheading. That was one thing I hated about myself, I had a hard time leaving my work _at_ work.

Molly's was a quaint little bar that had opened up over the past year or so. It was owned and operated by a bunch of the men and women at the Firehouse 51. I'd driven past it a few times here and there and it always looked busy and full of life, much like tonight. You could hear the beat of the music pouring out of the building as I paid my $25 cover at the door, which included two drinks. There was some sort of party being hosted here tonight, or something I guessed

I maneuvered my way through the hordes of people glancing around trying to spot Lindsay or anyone else from work.

I noticed the brunette uniformed cop that had worked with us today sitting at a raised bar table.

Her name was, something with a K...shit...what was it...Kelly...K-Kim Burgess, I thought, relieved when it came to me.

She waved me over and smiled at me warmly.

"Hey, you made it out!" She said as I approached her table.

"Yeah, thought I'd stop by." I smiled turning my head to see Lindsay and Jay occupying the other side of her table. Jay nodded his head at me while Lindsay smiled, "Glad you could make it." She said, before taking a long drink out of her glass.

"This place is amazing." I complimented, taking in the personal feel of the bar.

White Christmas lights hung in rows above my head covering the entire ceiling giving the place a nice glow. Racks of wine bottles and other liquor bottles lined the wall behind the bar, along with crystal tumblers and stemmed wineglass. Laughter and indistinctive conversations filled my ears from every direction.

"I'm getting a refill. Can I get you a drink?" Jay offered, noticing I was empty handed as I sat down next to Kim. I smiled and nodded my head, "That'd be great. Thanks." I replied, watching him head towards the bar disappearing through the crowd of people. The loud music made it a little difficult to hear everyone talking at the table, but I already loved this place.

"There's Atwater, this is his gig." Kim informed me as Atwater mingled his way through the crowd of people making his way over to our table. Lindsay whipped her head around and smirked at him.

"We had to pay full cover at the door?" She said in a teasing tone. Atwater shrugged his shoulders blowing it off.

"I'm running a business, Detective." He laughed raising his fishbowl glass full of what looked like beer up to toast Lindsay. We all laughed as Jay rejoined us at the table. He placed a tall glass of beer in front of me as he sat down across from me. I took a drink and felt the cold liquid go all the way down.

"I was going to get you a wine, but you didn't peg me to be a wine girl." Jay said, grinning slightly as I took another drink.

"I'm more of a beer and pizza type girl." I said, brushing some hair behind my ear, while he stared at me.

"Atwater is the cheapest, I mean the cheapest guy you will ever meet. We drove, wait for it, we drove around for a half hour yesterday looking for an ATM that wouldn't charge him a withdrawal fee." Kim informed us causing everyone to chuckle.

"And there's a two-drink minimum, so start knocking 'em back. I ain't playing." Atwater said, before heading off to make another lap around the room.

"Fine, but I want mine in that cup!" Lindsay yelled at him as he walked away referring to his large cup. I laughed and shook my head. They all seemed so nice and easygoing.

"So Burgess here was telling us she used to be a flight attendant." Lindsay said getting me up to speed on the previous conversation they had all been in before I arrived. Jay swallowed a shot of his beer and shook his head. "Flight attendant?" He asked, skeptical.

"You can break my balls all you want, but I learned more about crowd control and conflict resolution and intimidation tactics traits that will serve me well when you guys detail me up into Intelligence. Hint, hint." She beamed tapping her fingers on the table smiling.

Jay and Lindsay shared a look and nodded their heads laughing. "We got that."

"What about you? What did you do?" I asked talking to Lindsay. I shouldered out of my jacket and hung it on the back of my chair waiting for her to respond.

"Oh, I just kicked around here and there. Worked a lot of odd jobs." She replied, vaguely. Not really sure what that was all about, but I didn't pry. Some people just aren't that comfortable talking about their pasts.

"And you?" Kim said looking at Jay. He sat with his elbows resting on the edge of the table causing his shoulders to look even broader than they already were. The muscles in his arms were taught. I stared at him longer than I wanted too, and quickly looked away hoping he hadn't noticed.

"I was in the military." He revealed.

I knew it. I'd suspected that by the way he carried himself around Voight early, but I wasn't sure. I bet he looked good in a military uniform I thought, feeling a slight buzz forming in the back of my head. It's been awhile since I've drank so the little bit I had consumed was going straight to my head.

"How long were you in for?" I asked intrigued, picking at the damp napkin underneath my sweating glass.

"Two tours with the US Army Rangers." He replied cocking his head to the side. Lindsay excused herself to use the ladies room leaving me at the table with just Kim and Jay. I'd wondered by the way Lindsay was sitting next to Jay if they were a couple or something, but didn't ask.

"You ever see anything like we saw here today?" Kim asked, arching her eyebrows. Her cheeks were flushed and she seemed awfully giggly meaning she was most likely drunk or on the verge of being drunk.

Jay lowered his head drinking the remainder of his beer and avoided making eye contact with her.

"I'm sorry, that was such a stupid question to ask." She reprimanded herself.

I can't imagine what all he saw overseas.

Jay shrugged it off.

Kim slipped out of her seat to go get another drink, making me wonder if she really needed another.

There I sat alone at the table with Jay. Talk about awkward. I downed the rest of my beer while we sat there in silence for a moment stealing glances at one another when the other was looking the opposite direction.

"So, tell me something. What's it like going through the academy as the police commissioner's daughter?" Jay asked, smirking leaning in to the table slightly so I could hear him. I laughed lightly and ran my fingers through my hair nervously.

"It was pretty brutal, if I'm being honest. I mean everyone looked at me like I didn't deserve to be there or made it out like I got special treatment. But, I dealt with it... and made sure I earned my place." I explained, "I worked my ass off to get where I am and I'm proud of that." I continued to say. He stared at me intently listening to every word I had to say, which was kind of nice. Most guys never really listen to what I have to say.

"You should be proud." He smirked, looking at me.

"So, why'd you leave the Army?" I asked hesitantly.

"My time was up, and I decided I wanted a job that wasn't so life threatening," he said relaxing back into his seat and stretching his arms in the air.

"Naturally, you became a cop," I pointed out smirking.

"Exactly," he said, resting his hands back on the table. I laughed glanced around the room.

"Can I ask you a question?" He inquired, his expression becoming more serious.

"I guess," I laughed nervously, feeling my heartbeat increase for whatever reason. He leaned across the table slightly.

"When am I going to get that burger you owe me?" He said holding back a laugh, causing me to laugh and shake my head.

The corners of his mouth pulled up into a small grin.

"Lunch tomorrow's on me," I said feeling a little dizzy.

I yawned again knowing I'd never be able to get out of bed in the morning. I'd never been much of a late night partier, not even when I was in high school. The whole party scene wasn't really my deal. I was too busy sneaking into my dad's office looking at old case files he'd bring home. Which if I think about it, is a little weird now...but.

"Well, thanks for the drink. I think I'm going to head home for the night, Jax is waiting for me." I said getting up and pulling my jacket back on.

Jay stood up and looked at me inquisitively.

"Jax, the boyfriend?" He questioned almost looking slightly upset at the possibility of me dating someone.

I scoffed and turned to face him smirking again, "No, Jax my cat." I corrected him. He mulled it over in his mind before nodding his head in approval.

"I'll see you tomorrow; tell Lindsay I said thanks for the invite tonight." I smiled before heading out the door. If tomorrow was anything like today, it was going to another long ass day...


	6. Chapter 6: Knight In Shining Armor

**Chapter 6: Knight In Shining Armor**

**Samantha's Point of View**

I actually managed to make it into work on time this morning, which made me feel a little bit more confident today. Thank god for iPhone alarm clocks I thought when I rushed around my apartment getting ready this morning. I decided to check out who all Eric Cooper has been in contact with via phone and text message over the past few days when I made it in to work.

I straightened out the bottom of my grey V-neck shirt before sitting down at my desk and getting on the phone with the pay as you go phone company his cell had been running through. The upbeat annoying sound of music rang through my ears as I waited on hold.

Olinsky's head peered above the bottom of the steps as he made his way upstairs. I glanced down taking a drink of my Starbucks coffee then back in Olinsky's direction still holding the phone up to my ear. Another younger looking guy with spiked brownish blonde hair stood next to Olinsky.

I felt my stomach twinge as I realized who it was... "_Shit" _I mumbled into the phone turning away from him in my chair causing the phone to almost fall off my desk. I caught it just in time. I glanced over my shoulder to see Jay watching me from his desk intently. He probably thinks I'm crazy or something. I glanced back over my shoulder to stare at him.

"Adam Ruzek, this is Sergeant Voight." Olinsky said introducing Adam to Voight as he approached them carrying a few folders in one hand.

He gave Jules the folders before extending his hand out to Adam.

"Hey, boss. Nice to meet you, sir." I heard him say as a woman finally picked up on the other end of the phone. I gave her the rundown of who I was and the scenario and circumstances we were under.

"Ruzek, I know that name." Voight said intrigued leaning into a nearby desk. He must be the guy they pulled from the academy. Why him?

"Yeah, my dad, Bob, was a patrolman - his whole career in the 26th." Adam said shoving his hands in his pockets. He was tall and lanky with a good amount of stubble coming in so much different from what he used to look like when we...

"You don't say." Voight mumbled crossing his arms over his chest.

I wrote down the information the woman was giving me over the phone as quickly as I could. It was impossible to understand her with her foreign accent.

"I pulled him out of the academy, not his old man." Olinsky said, as they all worked their way back towards Voight's office slowly.

"Yeah, we were on the same - Softball- Softball team together. We designed T-shirts, if I'm not mistaken." I heard Olinsky say as I got up from my desk. Jay was watching Antonio and Jules write information on the white board about the case.

"Yeah, boy, there's some good living up in Beverly. That's where you were raised, right?" Voight said as I hung up the phone and finished looking over a few things in Rev's file before I went over to let him and the others in on what I'd just learned when I was on the phone.

"I split time with my dad there and my mom up in Canaryville." Ruzek said as I passed by him to make my way over towards Jay and the others. Ruzek looked directly at me, but said nothing.

That's nothing new I thought.

"If D'Anthony was right, and he heard three voices in the apartment, Pulpo must have brought two hit men with him from Medellin." Antonio said creating two question mark symbols below Pulpo's picture on the board symbolizing the two other men. He looked over my shoulder at Voight to be sure he had heard him as well. Voight back tracked to the front of the room and stood next to me.

"All right, just get all this information to Lieutenant Belden in Violent Crimes. Hey, have we gotten anything from his end?" He said, everyone in the room shrugged their shoulders. We hadn't received any information from his team at all. This was supposed to be a joint investigation with Violent Crimes.

"From my experience with Belden, you probably won't get anything from him. He can be a real prick sometimes." I said without thinking, it's the truth though. I don't know how many times my father ranted about him and the way he runs his unit.

"According to the phone records, Rev and Coop shared calls yesterday, only one other number called 'em both. It's a pay-as-you-go drop phone, signals off, but it was purchased at a cell store in Greektown." I said twirling the piece of paper I'd written everything down on in my hand. Jay walked up next to me letting his shoulder brush against mine causing me to feel the hairs on my arm stand on end.

"You and Halstead go check it out." Voight said giving me a pat on the shoulder. I turned to look at Jay as he readjusted the badge on his belt.

"Let's go. I'm driving." I said, tapping my fingers on his desk as I walked past it to head down to the garage.

"What, wait? I drive." I heard him protest behind me. I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself.

* * *

We drove through the city with the windows rolled down enjoying the incredibly unseasonably warm air. Wisps of hair kept hitting me in the face causing me to tuck some locks behind my ear. I glanced over at Jay who sat slumped down in the passenger seat less than pleased that I was the one to be driving. He sighed and glared out the window making me smirk as I stopped at a red light.

"What?" I said, looking over at him.

"Look, if we are going to work together every day there needs to be some ground rules. Like, I do most of the driving." He said glancing at me as the light turned green. What is it with guys and having to be the one to drive? It must be a control thing because the last guy I dated or hung out with, whatever you want to call it always had to drive.

"Why is it such a big deal?" I countered, making a left hand turn.

"Because I feel like a house husband over here." He admitted, I smirked and shook my head.

"You poor thing." I mocked him, laughing as he rolled his eyes.

"What else." I said, egging him on for whatever the reason. He turned to face me slightly in the car as we pulled up in front of the store. I put the car in park and shut it off glancing at him.

"What's the deal with you and the new guy Ruzek?" He asked, I sighed and looked away.

I really didn't want to get into the gory details of our short lived relationship. Ruzek's mother hated me. By hate I mean she would have rather found out her son was gay then to know he was dating me. She thought police work was meant only for men, not women. Ruzek never defended me... That and he cheated on me...which explains a lot of where my trust issues come from.

"This stays between us." I said looking at him sternly. "Of course." He agreed.

"Well, we actually have a kid together?" I whispered, as seriously as I could.

"Oh yeah, ha ha." He groaned as I got out of the car and walked around to the front of it to meet up with Jay.

I laughed when I looked at him as we started up the sidewalk towards the En-Dollar Store.

"I mean the way you freaked out at your desk; it must have been pretty interesting." Jay said as we walked side by side. His shoulder kept brushing against my arm every once in a while.

"Let me guess, you guys dated and you were engaged?" Jay pried.

"You're the so called Detective you figure it out." I teased walking ahead of him slightly. We passed by a group of guys loitering outside of the store working on a truck or car that looked like it just came straight from the junk yard. "Shake it, baby!" The guy yelled as I walked past them. I stopped and looked at the guy and cocked my head to the side.

"You better watch yourself." Jay said, staring the guy down.

"Yes, sir, officer, sir." The guy saluted Jay being a prick. I rolled my eyes letting it go and walked inside the store followed by Jay. The door chimed as we let it close behind us. It was your typical crappy overfilled cell phone/junk store.

There was an older man working behind the raised counter, his eyes flitted back and forth through the store as we approached him. "We've got a few questions for you." Jay said, flashing the store guy his badge informing him we were the police.

"A pay-as-you-go phone was purchased from your store in the last 24 hours. We're looking for who bought it." I said, handing him the piece of paper with the make and model number of the phone. The guy scrolled through his records on his computer as slowly as possible, "A Juan Garcia yesterday, paid cash."

"Any other information you can provide us." Jay questioned him.

"No, we aren't responsible for background checks. Sorry." The guy replied dryly. Well, he's just a huge help I thought to myself glancing at Jay who was no doubt thinking the same thing as me.

"True, but it is a fairly common name. You know, there's not a lot - we can do with that." I said shaking my hand. He shrugged his shoulders and looked like he could give a rats ass.

"Don't tell me how to do my job and I won't tell you how to do yours." He shot back at me. Oh, a little bit of hostility I'm sensing. Jay pulled his phone out and ran the store owners name through our database.

"You're Glen Pearson; right the owner of this place?" He asked, looking up from his phone.

"That's right." Glen answered hesitantly.

"You know, it looks like there's a Glen Pearson with a deceptive practice and fraud charge for selling stolen merchandise out of Gary, Indiana. That's a $25,000 extraditable must-hold warrant." Jay sounded off making little Glen start to squirm behind the counter a bit.

"What do you think height, weight match, and eye color too?" Jay asked me holding his phone over for me to take a look at the image; I smirked at Jay and looked around the store.

"Yeah, but I don't know. I hate to jump to conclusions. Why don't we throw some bracelets on him? We'll take him down to the station, run his prints, - and then we can be sure." I suggest as Jay put his phone away. "I mean I am dying to get to use these." I said, pulling cuffs off my belt and dangling them in front of Glenn.

"Sounds' like a plan to me." Jay agreed, as we looked at each other.

"I've got a nanny cam. I can pull some footage, get a picture of the guy who did it that's the best I can do." Dear Glen said. I placed my hand over my heart taken aback by his small act of kindness.

"That would be great, you know you're really to kind." I smirked, while we waited for him to get a printout off his hillbilly security camera.

"I knew that would work." Jay whispered as we walked back outside to the car.

"Everyone wants to avoid jail time. Now we just have to figure out who this idiot is." I said looking at the blurry picture he'd printed out for us. As we walked down the sidewalk a bottle flew in front of my feet and shattered. I stopped short almost falling on the broken shards of glass; I whipped my head around to see that it came from the same asshole that harassed me when we walked in the store.

"Why don't you bring that ass over to my place sometime, girl? I'll let you in." The grease monkey yelled at me grabbing his crotch. I rolled my eyes and mumbled asshole under my breath.

Jay was staring the guy down, clearly pissed off. His jaw flexed as he took a step forward.

"Jay, let it go." I said grabbing his forearm. He removed his badge and weapon and handed them to me. Well, I know exactly where this is leading.

I don't need him to defend me.

"Jay, stop. Let's go." I said sternly as he walked over towards the guy. Great...

"Hey, come here a sec." Jay said, standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"No, you're just trying to get me with assaulting a police officer." The prick replied sauntering forward a little then retreating back towards his two buddies by his truck.

"I don't see a badge on me anywhere." Jay replied egging him on. The guy stepped forward towards Jay and lunged for him. Jay locked his arms around his shoulder and neck in one swift movement and kneed him in the nose twice before releasing him to fall into the gravel. Blood protruded from the guy's nose as I tucked some hair behind my ear.

We didn't have time for this.

I shook my head as the guy laid there stunned, Jay reached down and helped the guy up off the ground and patted him in the shoulder as in saying nice try champ. "Anyone else?" Jay asked the two guys by the truck who just watched their buddy get his ass handed to him.

Jay made his way back towards me and retrieved his gun and badge. He looked at me and smirked.

"You know you did all that to impress me, but you're still not driving." I teased lightly smacking his cheek before hopping off the curb and walking around to the driver side.

* * *

Once back at the station we ran the picture the store manager had given us through the database and came up with an Omar Rojas. We all met up upstairs, everyone including Ruzek. He caught my eyes as Jay and I walked up the stairs with Omar's file in hand. I looked away. I can't believe he's working in this unit. I haven't spoken to him since that night... I shook those thoughts from my mind and focused on the informational white board. "Colombian authorities I.D.'D this guy as Omar Rojas, freelance hit man." Jay informed everyone while I placed the guy's picture on the board and wrote his name above it.

"So Rev was the boss. Coop moved the merchandise. Who's the next in the chain of command?" Voight asked pacing around looking at everyone.

"Well, that was the problem. Rev was only in town from Baton Rouge for a year. There was no structure to his crew." Jules replied, answering Voight.

So it's like this guy is going rouge now. He answers only to himself and only brings people in when he needs the dirty work done.

"And no one's talking?" Voight asked, skeptically. We all shook our heads no.

"No dice something about not wanting to have their heads chopped off." Olinsky said popping out from behind a bulletin board that blocked his desk.

The guy needs a damn cat bell.

"All right, get Rojas' image out there with Pulpo's citywide all airports, train, bus stations, and keep hitting the bushes." Voight instructed just as Belden walked into the room. Voight led him back to his office while we kept working on the case.

I wondered back to my desk only to find Ruzek leaning against it.

"You're on my desk." I said flatly, looking at him as he got up and watched me take a seat.

He stared at me briefly. I didn't want to talk to him, not after everything that happened between us. I was being childish, but I didn't care.

"So, is this how things are going to be?" He asked, running his hand over the back of his neck.

"Pretty much." I said, ignoring him and looking at my computer screen.

"I said I was sorry I don't know how many times." He started to say infuriating me. I closed my eyes and counted to ten trying not to flip the hell out on him. I stood up eye level with him feeling my heart lurch in my chest.

"I'm not doing this with you right now. Or at all." I said, storming off into the break room to get away from him.

"I proposed to you." He said from behind me.

I swung around to face him and felt my fists balling up at my sides.

"I said, yes. You were the one that cheated on me with what was her name, Wendy?" I shot back.

This was completely unprofessional to be airing our dirty laundry at work. I felt my face becoming warm and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. It had Jay's name on it, but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry for how things worked out, but I feel like I should be the one to tell you this. Wendy and I are engaged now." Ruzek said, it wasn't like I didn't know. I saw the status update on Facebook months ago.

"Well, congratulations." I snapped, walking past him and back to my desk.


	7. Chapter 7: Diego's Missing

**Chapter 7: Diego's Missing **

**Samantha's Point of View**

I vowed to avoid Ruzek as much as I possibly could. Of everyone at the academy, Olinsky had to pick him. Seriously, there was no one else that would have been able to pose as a damn druggie? I sighed sitting in the passenger seat of the car with my radio in my hand. D'Anthony had been released into his cousin's custody last night, but he came forward with helpful information. Apparently, he heard some of the older guys in his gang talking, there's supposed to be one more hit. He didn't know the target, but he did give us the name of someone who might. Xavier Green.

Xavier Green is just one of the many local drug runners working on the west side of town. Ruzek was supposed to buy from him, so we could take him into custody and question him. We sat a few cars down away from the corner Xavier and his crew were working for the day. Ruzek's silver Mazda drove past us and parked on the curb up ahead.

"So, I did some digging into Ruzek's past and you were engaged." Jay said causally. I looked at him with my jaw clenched shut. Did he ease drop on my conversation with Adam earlier?

"See, I was bored so I decided to run a light credit check on Ruzek. His past purchases revealed that he made a small purchase at a Tiffany &amp; Co. a little over six months ago. So either he likes expensive earrings or he bought you a ring?" Jay said staring at me watching my facial expressions shift from appalled to angry to somewhat impressed. On a side note, how in the hell could he be bored with the case we are working right now? I shook my head and glared at him out of the corner of my eye.

"You told me to be a Detective, so I put my skills to good use." He said, as I scoffed and looked out the windshield to see Ruzek getting out of the car and walk over towards Xavier.

"Am I right?" Jay asked, begging like a dog with a bone. I rolled my eyes and chewed on my lip.

"Yes, you're right. Okay, happy now? We were engaged and he cheated on me and I tossed the ring into the bay. Is that what you wanted to hear?" I snapped at him harsher than I wanted too. He smirked and shook his head as the radio light up.

"Hey, what's up, gents?" We heard Ruzek ask over the radio as he approached the wannabe thugs guarding the corner ally. Jin hooked him up with nice transmitter so we would be able to listen in on the conversation.

"Need something?" Xavier asked the radio crackling on our end. Ruzek must have flashed him the cash he had on him because he replied with, "How you know I'm selling?"

"Call it a wild guess. I used to buy from Cheeto a couple blocks up, but I guess he went on vacation." Ruzek proceeded to say. Yeah, he went on a long ass vacation I thought.

"You give me that $300 and come back in, like, 20 minutes." Xavier said, trying to dick him around. I rolled my eyes and began tapping my foot. Ruzek was always a shitty liar, which made me a little nervous. I didn't want him to get found out. Jay looked at me and my leg bouncing but said nothing.

"Oh, okay, Mr. Drug Dealer, I'll just give you all my money. What could possibly go wrong? Dude, I sell an ounce a week up at USC. You want to sit here and play Barney Badass with me and break me off for 300 bucks, or would you like to make $2,000 a week? Huh?" Ruzek shot back at him like he knew what he was doing. That was shocking.

"I'll give you 4 grams for $300." Xavier finally replied after thinking the deal over in his mind. I couldn't see Ruzek anymore because they had walked down the nearby alley way out of sight. We needed the drugs in his possession before we could even move in.

"No, no, no, no. You'll give me 5 and it better not be stepped on or I guarantee I won't be back. Listen, bro, I need an answer quick, 'cause I got a Sociology midterm in 34 minutes. I'm not even joking." Ruzek announced trying to push things along. My foot continued to bounce until I felt a hand touch my knee. I snapped my eyes down to see Jay's hand rest firmly on my knee. I looked over at him as in saying that's my knee thank you very much. "It was annoying me." He finally spoke removing his hand.

"You believe this guy? Alright, man here." Xavier said as the radio crackled once again.

"We've got eyes on them, everyone move in." Lindsay instructed over the radio. Jay and I got out of the car drawing our weapons and headed down the sidewalk. Lindsay and Antonio crept up across the street to block them in on the left side. As we approached the corner I saw Voight's truck coming up the alley behind them boxing everyone in.

"Police! Get your hands up!" Jay ordered taking the lead. I came up behind him keeping my sights on one of the two men flanking Xavier. They all squirmed and jumped around searching for a way out getting ready to run for it. "Put your hands up!" I yelled along with Lindsay moving in to place cuffs on them.

"You guys are cops!" Ruzek yelled playing along. I walked over towards him as he put his hands above his head. I pushed him against the brick wall and interlocked his hands above his head then bringing them down to cuff him like the others.

"You're enjoying this a little too much." He whispered as I may or may not have forcefully pushed him forward towards the car with a small smirk etched on my lips.

* * *

Everyone reconvened back at the station after the arrest. Antonio and Jules took the lead interrogating Xavier in the interview room. I sat perched on the edge of my desk waiting for them to see if they could get anywhere with the kid we brought in. I was skeptical he would even talk to them.

I couldn't stop thinking about Jay putting his hand on my knee earlier. It had taken me by surprise that's for sure, but what surprised me more was the fact that I had actually maybe _liked _it a little bit. I shook the stupid 8th grade girl thoughts out of my head. I can't get involved with my partner, it's not good. Not that he would even want to get involved or that I would want too. I mean for all I know he could have a girlfriend, not that I even care. I'm swearing off all men for the time being. He was probably just annoyed like he said and I am over thinking things like always. Damn my overactive brain.

"We're looking for a Shane Cameron. Xavier says he's been in hiding since yesterday, but he has a flop house over on Addison. It might be worth checking out." Antonio said as he and Jules came around the corner. I gave Jules a smile as she slipped her jacket on. Voight leaned against the doorway to his office looking over some paper work before he looked up.

"Excellent, everyone suit up and we'll head out." Voight instructed. I hopped off my desk and followed Lindsay down the back stair well leading to the IU locker room. My locker was right next to Lindsay's.

I pulled my hair up into a high pony tail quickly so it wasn't hanging in my face before I tried to open the door to my locker. I'd unlocked it with my combination but the thing still wouldn't open. I yanked on it causing the metal to clank around. I balled my fist up and smacked it, but got nowhere. Lindsay had already opened her locker and began strapping on her vest. "Want some help with that?" She asked, holding back a small laugh. I nodded my head yes, accepting her help.

"It's jammed." I laughed scratching the top of my head.

"Nah, it's just a little difficult. We give all the newbies this one." She smirked stepping in front of me and kicking the bottom of the locker with the side of her boot and pulling the rattling door open.

"Thank you!" I whispered as she smiled and patted my shoulder stepping out of the way so I could get my gear on. I glanced over at the torn tattered business card taped to the inside of her locker as I strapped my vest on.

"How old is that card?" I asked intrigued. She looked up at the card and took a deep breath before turning to look at me once again.

"Thirteen years. The man saved my life, and here I am. " Lindsay said proudly. It must have had some sentimental value for her to keep it that long or she thought of it as a good luck charm. I had my father's old police badge that had been passed down from him to my brothers to me.

"Want to tell me about it?" I smiled intrigued. Lindsay shied away from me a bit.

"Oh if you want to know more, it's going to cost you a few drinks." She teased clearly not wanting to open up all that much. I didn't blame her though; we just met a day and a half ago. Obviously, she had a past. We all do.

"I'm in on that! I've been trying to get her to explain that card to me for weeks." Jules said across the locker room.

The card had Hank Voight's contact information engraved on it. So they have some sort of a connection to one another, maybe? I laughed and followed the girls down to the garage so we could all load up.

Jay sat waiting in the driver seat as I got inside. "Oh, I see you beat me too it today." I joked as we pulled out of the garage. He smirked and rolled his window down midway.

"I actually want to make it home tonight, and the way you drove I didn't think the odds were in my favor." He joked, causing me to scoff and shake my head at his audacity. I drove perfectly. Well, okay maybe not perfectly but I wasn't a danger on the road like him. I slammed on the imaginary brake probably fifty times since we pulled out of the garage.

* * *

We all stood outside of Shane Cameron's fading brick apartment building. It was surrounded by narrow alley ways and side streets. He was located on the third floor, apartment 3B according to his record. I retied my boot strings as Jules walked up beside me. "We're going to go knock-and-talk see if he's in there." She said, motioning for me to follow her around to the front of the building.

"I saw the pictures on your desk of your kids. How old are they?" I asked as we jogged up the first flight of stairs. Jules smiled to herself at the mention of her home life. "Emmy is five going on fifty and Nathan is eight." She boasted glancing over at me as we walked.

"Is it hard being away from them like this?" I asked, wondering how she juggled police work with being a mom to two little kids. She shrugged her shoulders as we started to ascend the second flight of stairs. The apartment building had a dank smell to it causing my gag reflexes to act up. My boot stuck to the bottom step due to the gum someone disposed of.

"I miss them all day, but this is my job and I love my job as much as I love my kids. We make it work. I've got a great husband who is exceptional at helping out with the kids and he understands my need to work, you know?" She explained as I heard my radio crackle on my belt.

"That's really great. I've always wanted to have kids, but I never thought I could handle the job and being a mom. I didn't have the best role model either." I admitted as we worked our way around the corner and up to the next set of steps. My legs were already burning from the first too.

"You'd be surprised." Jules said giving me an encouraging smile. She seemed like she was a good mom, just in the way she lit up talking about her kids and her husband.

We stopped on the landing at the top of the stairs and found apartment 3B and walked over towards it just as my radio crackled again. Jewels pounded on the door while I stood a few inches behind her.

"Terminate. Pull back. Targets may be in the building." Voight's gruff voice flitted through the radio. I tapped Jules shoulder and pulled the radio off my belt when it happened...

It happened in the blink of an eye. There was no time to prepare or move out of the way. Two loud ear piercing shots rang out blasting through the wooden door knocking Jules back into me. We both hit the ground within seconds. I smacked my head into the linoleum flooring and laid there stunned for a second. A searing pain spread across the side of my face as I looked up dazed and confused. Jules lied on her side shaking. "Jules!" I screamed, scrambling to get to my feet and to her side.

Blood poured out of the side of her neck profusely soaking the floor surrounding her. "10-4 Officer Shot." I yelled into my radio, grabbing Jules by her vest and pulling her away from the door. My heart was pounding in my already ringing ears as I whipped my head up to see the hole in the wooden door. I placed my hands on her neck quickly trying to stop the blood as much as possible as she gurgled and quivered in my arms.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay." I whispered with a shaking voice. My eyes were full of tears as I heard back up coming to us.

"Let's get her outside." Antonio barked as he rushed up beside me. We bot looped our arms under her neck as Voight ran past us to enter the apartment to find the shooter.

"It's going to be okay, Jules. You stay with us!" Antonio ordered her. My hands were shaking as we met Lindsay on the landing carrying her body. She picked up her legs as we descended the staircase.

We could already hear sirens blaring as the ambulance raced to get to the scene as we got her outside. Jay, Olinsky and Ruzek took off after a black two door car that sped off just as we made it out of the apartment. Jules's face turned pale, almost stone like as she held on.

The ambulance arrived within minutes and the paramedics rushed to get her on the stretcher.

We handed Jules off to the two female paramedics and stepped back. Lindsay hopped up into the back of the rig to ride to the hospital with her. I stood there in shock next to Antonio. He was beside himself, that was his partner lying on that stretcher. I leaned down and placed my hands on my knees and shook my head as the tears fell trying to hold it all together.

"You alright?" Voight asked, forcing me to straighten up quickly. I nodded my head, "I'm fine. I'm fine." I lied shaking my head as he placed his hands on my shoulders and examined my face. I never even realized I had blood running down my cheek.

"It just clipped you; we'll get it cleaned up back at the station. Everyone move out!" Voight yelled as more officers arrived on the scene swarming like wasps around the apartment building...

* * *

My mind raced and my heart felt like it was going to explode inside my chest as I rode back to the station with Voight. I kept thinking I should have done something differently, and maybe she wouldn't have gotten shot. We shouldn't have been talking. We should have kept our minds on the task at hand. But, we had no way of knowing what was on the other side of that door.

"You need to take a few deep breaths, kid." Voight instructed from the driver seat glancing over at my distressed state. I did as he suggested and took a few long deep breaths.

"We have one suspect in custody." Jay's voice sounded off over the radio.

I felt a tiny wave of relief wash over me knowing they got the son of a bitch that shot at us, but still couldn't calm down.

"This your first 10-4?" Voight asked as I tried to pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth. I looked down at my hands to see that they were covered in Jules's blood causing my stomach to lurch. I started wiping my hands on my black skinny jeans repeatedly.

"Yes...this is a first." I told him honestly.

"Listen to me; this could have happened to any one of us. You did nothing wrong. Understand?" He said reassuringly, as we found a parking spot outside of the precinct. He looked at me sternly, but with kinder eyes. Like the kind of look my dad would give me when I scraped my knee after falling off my bike when I was younger.

"Understand?" He questioned me again placing his hand on my shoulder gently. I nodded my head.

We got out of the car and headed up the steps to the precinct as Voight's phone rang. I paused on the step beside him as he answered it, "Hello?" He answered, agitated. Officers descended the stairs in flocks heading out to get to the crime scene we'd just come from. Voight hung up the phone and lowered his head shaking it in disbelief. My heart sank as I didn't dare ask what news he'd just received.

"Jules didn't make it." He said looking at me, heartbroken.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly wishing it had been me instead. She had two kids and a husband. This shouldn't have happened...

After a second I followed Voight inside and stopped behind him as he froze catching sight of Lieutenant Belden standing at the front desk like he didn't have a care in the world. Voight had filled me in on how they knew the offender was in the building but neglected to let anyone else no, even though this was supposed to be a shared case.

If we had known to precede with more caution Jules might not have been killed in the line of Duty. "You played games and you got her killed!" Voight growled heading straight for Belden. I didn't stop him either. He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and shoved him back as other officers intervened pulling my boss back. I stepped in between them and pushed Voight back some.

"Come on! You want to play? Get off of me!" Voight growled and snarled as he fought against the officers dragging him backwards away from Belden. He shoved and kicked angrily at Belden who was to chicken shit to move forward.

I glared at the man standing before me with his smug look and suit and tie and stepped forward. Before I knew I had balled my hand into a fist and swung. I didn't actually think I would connect, but I did. Belden stumbled back clutching the counter for support as a dribble of blood escaped from the gash in his lip.

"Get your damn hands off of me." Voight huffed finally breaking free from the officers grasp.

He grabbed my elbow and led me away from Belden.

"You've just lost your job kid!" Belden hollered over my shoulder as I followed Voight keeping my head down. I probably did just lose my job. It's not a wise decision to assault one of your superiors.

"Follow me; it's about time you get to see how the cage works." Voight said as I continued to follow him down a flight of stairs towards the garage of the building.

"Antonio! How are you? It's been a while." A scruffy Spanish man yelled from inside of a chain link cage on the far side of the wall. I'd seen it earlier in the day when we loaded up to head out, but really didn't give much thought of what it was used for. Antonio and Jay entered the cage and stared at the arrogant man before them.

"Pulpo, ladies and gents." Jay said as I walked forward.

Pulpo glanced and my direction and gave me a cat call whistle.

"Where are they? I want your two hit men right now." Antonio demanded shoving Pulpo up against the side of the cage forcefully. Pulpo laughed and avoided answering the question. Antonio's stance was rigid and tense as he stepped back away from Pulpo.

"You see that! That's my partner's blood!" He yelled looking at Pulpo who snickered and smirked back at us. "I don't know what you're talking about." He laughed out before he spat on the blood lacing Antonio's hands eliciting a roundhouse to the jaw. Antonio slammed him harshly against the side of the cage once again as Jay pulled him off. So this is how they do things here... I didn't have a problem with them roughing him up. By all means go right ahead.

"You need to take this, Antonio." I heard Olinsky say behind. I turned to see that Voight had disappeared. Antonio walked over and took the phone out of Olinsky's hand. "Hello?" He asked breathlessly. It was as if time stopped for Antonio. The phone hit the floor moments after he'd held it to his ear. Something terrible had happened. I could tell by the ghost like expression washing over his face. As if this day couldn't get worse, it did.

"Someone's taken my son, Diego." He announced looking around at everyone standing next to him...


	8. Chapter 8: Knocked Down

**A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews/follows/favorites. It means so much to me!**

**To the Guest Review that critiqued this story: Thank you for your honesty. I didn't realize I spelled the names wrong in the last few chapters, but I will be going back to fix those minor errors. As far as Sam using some of Lindsay's lines, yes. I have used a few of her lines, but I don't think Sam is essentially Lindsay with a different face. **

**They have completely different backstories. Where Sam has a father on the force, and a past with Ruzek. Lindsay had a troubled upbringing, mom and dad weren't around. She had a drug problem, solicited, etc. etc.. I feel like I have distinguished the two pretty well. I may swap lines now and then, but it won't happen too much. Isn't all fan fiction plagiarism? :) **

**Chapter 8: Knocked Down**

**Samantha's Point of View**

The Intelligence Unit arrived on the scene within ten minutes of getting the call that Antonio's son Diego had been kidnapped. Chaos, best described the scene outside of Antonio's family bakery. Chicago Police cruisers had blocked off the two ends of the street in front of the bakery, only allowing police personnel onto the block. Uniformed men and women canvased the area relentlessly looking for someone who might have seen or heard something when Diego was taken. So far, one lady gave us a white van, but no license, no driver description, nothing else really useful. Detectives are rolling; squads are canvassing the area and knocking on doors, checking for cameras.

According to Antonio's wife Laura, Diego had been taking out the trash. When she realized he'd been gone for quite a while, she walked out back into the alley way where the garbage cans are and found him nowhere in sight.

It was hard to imagine the kind of pain Antonio and his wife must be feeling right now. That's their child, and now he's missing. Whoever harms a child in my book should be shot on the scene, no questions asked. My stomach has been in knots since Jules was shot this morning and now this. Why would they take a child? It's barbaric. The cartel just wants to prove a point, that they're in charge around here. Pulpo is the ring leader and unless we release Pulpo back out onto the streets we won't get Diego back alive.

At least that's what Antonio said when he had a little chat with Pulp this morning. The kidnappers left a note at the scene saying, "Pulpo free by midnight, or your son dies." I stared down at the tattered and torn piece of paper rereading the chick scratch handwriting in Spanish. Looking up from the piece of paper and my desk I noticed Lindsay had returned from notifying Jules family that she had been killed in the line of duty. Jay was scouring the database looking for any information he could find that would help us.

"They took Antonio's son. As far as I am concerned they took my own. Nothing else matters till we get Diego back. Nothing." Voight announced looking at every single one of us. Antonio was beside himself, pacing the floors back and forth unaware of whether his son was alive or dead already. When something like this happens it really puts things into perspective.

"Sarge, so this all started with Rev and Coop getting their heads chopped off. And both did essentially the same job for Pulpo, mid-level distribution, right? So we know Pulpo's cleaning house. And what do you do when you get rid of old furniture? You got to bring in something new. This guy stood out. It's Ernesto Milpas." Jay spoke as I got up from my desk and walked towards the center of the room crossing my arms over my chest. Jay handed Voight a mugshot of the guy. He had jet black hair and a scruffy face, like he hadn't shaved for a week or two when the image was taken.

"He was running 15 corners between 22nd and Kenzie when CPD pinched him in '09." Jay continued as Voight passed the mug shot around for everyone to get a good look at.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was on that bust with Jules." Antonio said, as the photo landed in his hands. I watched as he stiffened at the sight of the animal that may have taken his son. His jaw clenched tight as thoughts raced through his mind.

"He was released last year." Jay said leaning back into his chair and glancing around at everyone. I picked at the bandage on the side of my forehead from where I'd gotten clipped this morning. Medical had cleaned it up after we got back from the bakery. I hated wearing Band Aides, so I just ripped it off and tossed it into the trashcan beside my desk.

"He was a climber too." Antonio revealed. Which means Ernesto is willing to do whatever it takes to make it to the top of the food chain, even kidnapping a cop's kid.

"Sounds like he's trying to make a name for himself." I said, Jay nodding his head in agreement.

"And get promoted in the process." Lindsay chimed in looking over at me. I shook my head trying to wrap my mind around all of this. It made me really stop and think about how much my father must have worried when he was working cases. I mean criminals know the best way to harm a cop or detective is to go after their family. How many times did he worry if someone would come after us?

"He's the best of a lot of other really bad options." Jay said getting to his feet. He shoved his chair back into the front of his desk and slipped his hands into his front pockets.

"What do we got on him?" Voight asked, ready to go nail the son of a bitch. I was right there with him. We've been standing around almost all morning trying to get Pulpo to talk, but it was like pulling out teeth.

"Parole Office has an address that's a year old." Jay said looking down at his computer screen to verify that the address was correct.

"Let's go." Voight barked. As he walked past me he slapped Ernesto's mugshot onto the whiteboard right next to Omar's mugshot just below Pulpo's image.

* * *

Jay made no protests when I hopped into the driver seat of our car. He stayed quiet for the most part as I followed Voight's dark blue beat up Dodge Durango out of the district. Everything seemed to pass by us in a blur of brick buildings, graffiti and trees. It felt as if this day would never end. Flashes of this morning keep hitting me in waves. The gunshot ringing out in my ears, the blood, god, the blood was horrendous. I practically watched the life leave Jules's body and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about. It wasn't fair that she died, it wasn't fair that a small child had been taken against his will god knows where.

"I can't even fathom how Antonio is handling all of this. If I had a child snatched away, I wouldn't be able to function. When I was growing up, I watched my day go to work and risk his life every day, but I never thought anything could happen to him. You know, like being a cop made him invincible somehow." I breathed out, needing to get some of this off my chest before my mind imploded on itself. Jay rolled his window down, letting the warm breeze of the afternoon air fly into the car.

"Then Jules this morning, made me realize none of us are really safe, are we?" I said aloud, letting my mind wonder all over the place. Jay looked at me the entire time I spoke. He cleared his throat and looked down and then back out the windshield.

"As long as you're my partner, I've got your back." Jay said sternly causing me to glance at him momentarily before fixing my eyes back on the road. I gave him a half-hearted smile appreciating his attempt to reassure me that despite what happened today we would be okay as long as we worked together.

"Thanks." I whispered, looking at him before making a left hand turn.

"As a soldier, how did you handle everything?" I asked hesitantly.

"Generally, I'd take it out on those who didn't deserve it. Something I still struggle with." Jay admitted to me as we pulled over next to the curb in front of Ernesto's building.

It was a light brown brick building that looked like it had been through hell. A construction crew worked on the sidewalk next to the entrance to the building sending the sounds of machinery throughout the air.

Ruzek and Olinsky were watching the back of the building. Ruzek had gone undercover as a construction worker, while Olinsky got stuck playing the part of a drunken homeless man.

I shut of the ignition and rested my hands on my leg as we waited. I could feel Jay's eyes on me, so I turned and looked at him.

"How's the head?" He asked, pointing towards the already scabbing marks on the side of my forehead.

I touched the skin lightly with the tips of my fingers and winced as a sharp pain shot through the front of my head.

"Stings a little." I laughed dryly.

"Put some ice on it when you get home tonight. It'll help ease it up." He said tapping his fingers on the side of the door as he rested his arm in the window. I nodded my head appreciating the tip and peering up and down the empty block. Something told me this guy was long gone...

"So did you and Ruzek want kids?" Jay asked after about ten minutes of silence had passed between us. I looked at him with my mouth falling open slightly. He really didn't have a problem asking the tough questions now, did he? I shook my head and arched my eyebrows taken aback by his forwardness.

"That's kind of personal, don't you think?" I said, as he shrugged his shoulders.

"How else are we supposed to get to know each other?" He questioned looking at me. I guess he had a point there. You ask questions to get to know someone, but I don't know if I even want to get to know him...It would make losing him that much harder if something were to happen to him on the job.

"I didn't want kids. Not right now anyway." I admitted, unsure of why I was opening up to him.

"What about you? You want any kids?" I countered, as he smirked at me.

"Someday, I'd like a little boy and a girl. One of each, but that's it. Two's my limit, any more than that and I'm packing my bags and hitting the road." He said sarcastically, causing me to smirk at him. He really looked like the type of guy that would leave a girl hanging with two or more kids. I felt my cheeks becoming warm as I turned away from him.

"We got eyes on our boy." Voight's voice said crackling over the radio lying on the dash. Jay reached over and picked it up locking his eyes with my own.

"What the hell is Ruzek doing? Everyone go, go, go!" Voight yelled into the radio. Jay and I were out of the car and running towards the entrance in a matter of seconds, weapons drawn at our sides. We crept up the green rickety staircase and entered the building.

"You good?" Jay whispered making sure I was still behind him. I patted his shoulder letting him know I was right there.

We crept into the build quickly and quietly. Our footsteps echoed off the solid concrete floor with each step we took. It looked more like an industrial building on this floor then it did an apartment building. That's when I realized it was probably more like a halfway house on the upper floors. We moved swiftly down a hallway coming to another one. Jay instructed silently that I take the right while he took the left.

Making my way down the darkened hallway alone I maneuvered around a bunch of metal boxes taking up most of the floor space. I passed by a few closed metal doors that most likely were installed to make loading and unloading tractor trailers more easily, pushing past the plastic weather protectors I made my way into an empty section of the building.

As I walked further into the room I kept quiet and listened for any signs of movement. Metal columns were placed sporadically around the tiny loading room. They were the perfect thing to hide behind. I moved throughout the room silently. I was about to move past one of the metal columns when I heard the sound of a man grunting and saw something hard coming towards my face. I put my arm up instinctively to protect myself as I fell backwards onto the ground hard.

The wind had been successfully knocked out of me as I tried to quickly regain my barring's. I looked up in time to see Ernesto making his way out of the back of the building. I pulled the walkie talkie off my belt as I pushed myself to my feet quickly.

"Suspect is on foot out the southwest side of the warehouse." I said defeated and lifting my finger off the call button...


	9. Chapter 9: Contingency

**Chapter 9: Contingency **

**Samantha's Point of View**

I stood with my hands on the rusted metal railing of the bridge beside Jay, and watched the beat cops scouring the area below for any signs of Diego and Ernesto. That jackass had knocked me down pretty damn hard. I'd definitely have a bruise on my elbow and ass from that one. I keep feeling like I let him get away... I should have gotten up quicker and ran after him...

I turned around and leaned against the railing and cradled my elbow in my other hand and rubbed it to get the stinging sensation to go away. Ernesto was most likely in the wind by now. I highly doubt he was anywhere remotely near this area right now. Although, it would be nice if he'd just pop out and be like here I am... I scoffed at my own stupidity and shook my head.

"You sure you're alright?" Jay asked concerned, touching my shoulder lightly. I glanced up at him and nodded my head assuring him I was fine. He'd doubled back and walked out of the building with me and led me up here onto the bridge. This was where Voight instructed the team to wait.

"I'm okay, really. I should have seen it coming." I said letting out a breath. Ruzek had wondered up here a few minutes ago with Olinsky at his side. He was taking the whole undercover thing to the extremes. I had to do a double take and make sure Ruzek wasn't being followed by a real homeless person.

"It wasn't your fault, him getting away...You're taking one hell of a beating for this being your first week." Jay said, stepping away from me placing his hands on the railing and peering down over the side. A police boat was coasting up and down the channel below looking for evidence. The wind blew my hair around wildly as Voight and Lindsay walked towards us.

"Thanks...If getting my ass kicked means we find Antonio's son alive and unharmed, I'll be just fine." I told him as he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. His crystal blue eyes lingered on me a moment longer than I expected them too causing me to look away quickly.

"You alright, kid?" Voight called out to me as he approached us. I put my hand up reassuring him I was fine and not to fuss over me. He patted my shoulder as he passed by me. We all paced back and forth waiting for Antonio to meet us. Ruzek could have really screwed us over by running after Ernesto like he did. He was supposed to keep eyes on him, not try and be a hero. God knows where he is now.

"No sign of Diego that he was ever here." I heard Antonio yell as he walked down the wooden path to the bridge. He was beyond livid. The look on his face was pure anger and frustration.

"We had him! What the hell was that?" Antonio screamed lunging towards Ruzek. Voight intervened and pushed Antonio back a few feet trying to keep order within the group.

"I made a call!" Ruzek fired back eliciting an eye glare from me. I think the best thing he can do right now is keep his mouth shut.

"Yeah, it was a stupid one." Antonio yelled back at him fighting against Voight's grasp. "Take it easy, take it easy." Voight said beginning to lose authority over his team slightly. No matter what we say Antonio's son is still out there scared and alone. Antonio shoved Voight's hands off of himself and turned towards me.

"Let's not forget who let herself get jumped!" He snapped in my direction. I went to step forward and felt Jays hand clamped around my arm holding me back. I bit my tongue and said nothing taking my own advice. I know I screwed up. Jay let go of my arm, but the warmth from his hand remained tingling my skin. I shook it off and looked anywhere but at him.

"Detective Dawson, this is Burgess. You're gonna want to see this." Antonio's radio sounded off at his waist. He stepped back and informed Burgess we were on our way to check out what they'd found in the building. I shot Ruzek a look as he walked beside me. We'd both made big mistakes today and it could cost Diego his life if we aren't careful. I should have kept my guard up more when clearing the room, paid better attention, been more prepared. Ruzek should have followed orders instead of doing whatever the hell he wants.

We made our way down into the basement of the industrial building to meet up with Burgess and Atwater. They'd been a part of the team scouring the building for evidence. Jay and I jogged down a flight of busted up cement stairs and followed Voight, Lindsay and Antonio into a small dimly lit room in the back of the basement. Jin our IT guy was on his knees looking at a laptop screen intently. That's definitely out of place. This place is a dump and sitting in the middle of the room was a practically brand new mac book.

"Tell me you have something." Antonio said hope filling his voice. Jin looked up from the screen as we all squeezed into the tiny doorway to the room. A cockroach scampered over my boot and caused me to step back into Jay. His hand landed on my hip and caught me. I glanced over my shoulder at him thankfully as he leaned into the door jam. Jin turned the computer towards us and hit play on what looked like a video.

Antonio placed his hand over his mouth as his son appeared on the screen with duct tape over his mouth. His hands were tied to the arms of the chair he was tied to. He looked terrified. It was all I could do to keep my eyes on the screen and not look away. Voices talking in Spanish could be heard in the background. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

"Translation." Voight said kneeling down beside Antonio. "Scream and we cut out your tongue." Lindsay said looking around at all of us. I felt a twinge in my stomach as I studied the video. Diego looked horrified as tears streaked his faces. No one else was visible in the video but him. As the video continued to play a hand appeared and removed the duct tape over Diego's mouth. He squirmed away from the hand and looked up at whoever was in the room with him.

"Daddy," He cried out, "Daddy, they said they're going to kill me. I'm scared!" Diego cried out before the duct tape was firmly placed back over his mouth. I lowered my head and took a few deep breaths.

"Check out the paneling in the background." Jay said pointing at the screen. "That's not here."

* * *

With nothing left for us to do at the scene we all made our way back to the station. Voight had all of us going through paperwork in the basement with Jin. It was a decent sized store room that branched out into the garage and where 'the cage' was. We were looking through folders and folders of CI information trying to see if we could find anything or anyone that could tie Ernesto and Pulpo together.

"All right, I want you to go through these one by one. See if anyone crosses with Pulpo or Ernesto." Voight reminded us for the third time as I sat a stack of folders down by my feet. Jay sat behind me looking through stacks of his own.

"Okay, look, remember, the red-tabbed files are the CIs that have been paid out, okay?" Jin said trying to keep everything organized in his office. It already looked like a bomb went off in the room, as stacks of folders sat everywhere like skyscrapers. Jin continued to fuss over everything until Voight got his attention. I flipped through pages of informants finding nothing of good use.

I opened the next folder and was surprised to see a familiar face on the image in the file. Lindsay's image stared back at me. I never expected she used to be an informant. Her record was nothing too terrible, but it wasn't pretty either, petty left, solicitation, drugs. I glanced up at Lindsay to see her nose in her own pile of paperwork. I quickly closed the folder and moved onto the next. The card in her locker was from Voight, he must have helped her get clean and off the streets maybe or he turned her out?

"Halstead, Daley, come here for a sec." Voight said to us over his shoulder. I stood up and followed him over to the doorway, feeling Jay looming behind me.

"In case we're gonna consider a trade, I want you to check out these locations. Sight lines, sniper spots, the works." Voight explained handing me a piece of paper with a few addresses that might be suitable for a swap meeting. I took the paper from him and shoved it into my pocket.

"You're considering negotiating?" Jay asked skeptically. He folded his arms over his chest and stared at Voight. Swaps almost always end in a fatality. That's why they aren't done that often.

"This is just a contingency plan. Check it out." Voight said leaving us in the doorway. Jay and I shared a glance with one another both thinking the same thing. This would never work out.

Jay and I walked up the and down the gravel parking lot that was surrounded by abandoned buildings on both sides. Traffic from the highway nearby filled my ears as the wind gusted kicking up dust in the lot. The subway train rattled by us as Jay walked around taking pictures of the buildings nearby that we could use to place snipers if need be. I sketched out the area on the sketch pad in my hand and wrote down all of the information for the paperwork end of things.

"We can put two snipers on each side." I said, looking up at the brick buildings with broken windows. The buildings on each side of the lot were up high enough that they would make perfect vantage points for the snipers.

"Whatever you say." Jay said as I brushed some hair behind my ear. I sensed an edge to his voice a little.

"What's with the tone?" I asked as he walked past me to take another picture of the building holding the scope of the camera up.

"I'm just trying to stay on your good side, I heard what happened to Belden." He said over his shoulder. I but my lip and held in a breath. Of course he heard about me punching Belden. Not my finest moment. I'm surprised they haven't taken my badge for that yet. All in due time I guess.

"Ha-Ha laugh it up." I replied sarcastically.

"So I think I've come up with a great nick name for you." Jay said as we started to walk back towards the car. We'd gotten all the information we needed to hand over to Voight should he need it. I could only imagine what he would come up with.

"What's that?" I asked rolling my eyes at him.

"Million dollar baby." He smirked, causing me to laugh slightly as he opened the door to the car. I rested my hand on the hood of the car and fiddled with the keys in my hand. Jay stared at me from across the car.

"I don't really think now is the best time to be joking. I mean Diego is still missing and we've got nothing. Do you know what percentage of hostage situations end in a successful swap? 1%." I snapped at him harsher than I wanted too. Jay lowered his head and then looked back up at him. He knew as well as I did the only way we'd get Diego back is if we found him ourselves. A swap wouldn't work.

"Joking is how I deflect from the situation, plus I figured you could use a laugh. It's been a hard week for all of us. But, like Voight said this is just a contingency. We are going to find him." Jay said as the wind blew my hair around wildly.

"I hope you're right." I said before we both got in the car.


	10. Chapter 10: Make A Choice

**A/N: Hey guys! First of all I'd like to apologize for not updating on the dates that I had listed. I had doctors appointments back to back this week and they took up most of my days! But, never fear I am here and plan on adding a few extra days to this story and crossing over into next week! Expect a much longer chapter tomorrow! :)**

**Chapter 10: Make A Choice**

**Sam's Point of View**

After Jay and I had finished scouting out the locations for a potential swap with Pulpo we arrived back at the precinct, and continued searching through all of the Criminal Informant files. Voight had so many of them, it was impressive. My father always said the secret to keeping so many Criminal Informants was to protect them and never ever lie to them. Honesty can get you a lot further than a lie ever will. Sometimes you have to be willing to toss a case in order to keep an Informant. If you're loyal to them, they'll be loyal to you and more willing to help you when you need them most.

I sifted through the stacks of folders on my desk and sighed. It seemed like we weren't doing enough to find Diego, when in reality we were doing everything we possibly could. That's the thing about being a cop that brother's hate. They love running after people balls to the wall. I guess that's why my brother Brett loves working in the gang unit. Apparently, according to him they get all the top action cases. I like to have a plan and know all the facts first.

"Hey," Jin said quietly, as he approached my desk causing me to look up at him.

"What's up?" I questioned, giving him a small smile then focusing on the papers on my desk again.

"I never got that transmitter back from you. You still got it on you?" He inquired, as I chewed on my lip.

I opened the bottom drawer on my desk and pulled out the cracked transmitter, smiling sheepishly as I handed it to him over the desk. Jin's shoulders slumped as he sighed and examined it, shaking his head.

"From now on I'm putting yours and Jay's transmitters in bubble wrap." Jin mumbled, turning the cell phone over in his hand.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as he skulked off towards Voight's office.

I pulled my hair up into a bun, before continuing to sift through the mountain of paperwork scattered about my desk. The entire top of the desk was covered in white paper. It looked like a fresh layer of snow. None of the CI's I've read about have any ties to Pulpo or Ernesto.

Jin knocked on the door to Voight's office softly, before sticking his head in the door. "You've got a call holding on line two, an Erica Gradishar? It sounds pretty important." Jin said, as my eyes flickered up at the sound of that name. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't place who she was or what she did.

"I'll call her back." Voight bellowed from inside his office. Jin nodded his head then closed the door to his office.

Antonio paced the floor behind his desk as he looked through a folder of paperwork in his hand. He groaned loudly as he threw the folder of papers against the wall out of frustration, causing everyone else at their desk's to look up at him. He slammed his hands down on his desk and lowered his head inconsolable.

I wanted to say something to him, but what could I say that would ease his pain or make him feel any better. He's already lost his partner, and now his little boy is missing. Both crimes were so senseless and uncalled for and unfair. Jules didn't deserve to be killed, just like Diego didn't deserve to be ripped away from all that he's ever known or cared about.

"Still haven't heard anything from your CI?" Jay asked Antonio after clearing his throat.

"Not yet," Antonio replied, gruffly.

Apparently Antonio had reached out to an old contact after Jay and I left to check out those locations. It was a woman named Jasmine that helped him out with a few cases in the past. I found her file on my desk and glanced at it again. She was a call girl that worked the west side of town for the most part. According to Antonio she had worked a party for Ernesto a while back. Skinny curly haired brunettes were his thing.

Antonio's phone buzzed on his desk, causing him to answer it quickly. He stepped into the stairwell to get some privacy and hear better. When he returned he looked like he had just been revived. He barged over to Voight's office door and opened it, turning to look at everyone.

"I just heard back from Jasmine, Polk Hotel on Adams." He instructed, as Voight came out of his office throwing a jacket on as he went.

"Let's go!" He barked, as we all rushed to the garage.

Everything seemed to go by in one giant blur as we sped through the city towards the Polk Hotel, sirens blaring forcing cars out of our way. We killed the sirens when we got about two blocks from the Hotel. The paint on the building cracked as an old Vacancy sign hung off the side of the building. It was an old dinky pay by the hour type hotel that smelled like Clorox Bleach and Fabreeze fabric spray.

We made our way into the tiny lobby, keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of Ernesto. The desk clerk sat inside a pexi-glass cubicle eating a hoagie. Antonio stepped forward and pulled his cell out, bringing up Ernesto's picture.

"Where's this guy's room?" He asked impatiently, holding his phone and badge up to the pexi-glass. The desk clerk put his glasses on so he could see and nodded his head, turning and pointing to the room key rack behind him on the wall. We needed room 406...

We dashed up the stairs drawing our weapons as we went and proceeded down the hallways in formation. Everything was eerily silent. The traffic noise from outside seemed to diminish, the only sound I could hear were my own footsteps on the plush red carpet in the hall.

We approached Ernesto's room with extreme caution. Lindsay and Voight blocked one end of the hall while Jay and I blocked the other. If he was in fact in the room, he'd have nowhere to run. Antonio took a deep breath before he kicked the door in, and barreled into the room.

As I looked into the room I saw that it was empty besides the mattress on the floor and boxed television set in the corner, and my heart sunk. "He was here." Antonio whispered, as he knelt down in front of a small wooden chair picking something white up off the ground. I examined the room and took in the paneling on the wall behind the wooden chair. It was the same as in the video Jin had showed us.

"He was here." Antonio stated again, clutching what looked like a white apron in his hands until his knuckles turned white. He kicked the wooden chair as hard as he could, frustration getting the better of him.

Jay and I walked back out into the hallway with Lindsay and Voight and stood there momentarily trying to collect our thoughts. Diego had been here... Where would they have taken him? Jay lowered his head and clenched his jaw shut tightly as he stood beside me.

Antonio came out into the hallway shaking his head, tears welling in his eyes. We were so close to Diego, but yet so damn far away. It was slowly killing Antonio. All of his blood had drained from his face, as he shoulders slumped solemnly. I turned my head and glanced down the hallway and saw a man standing at the end with a brown bag in his hand.

"Ernesto..." I yelled, before taking off in a run after him followed by Antonio and the others.

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me and the guy was still getting away from me. I watched as he almost fell opening a door and veering off into the stairwell. Antonio passed me and pursued Ernesto quicker. We took the stairs two at a time, leaving me breathless. Four flights of stairs later and we were running down another hallway.

Ernesto ran out of a side exit door disappearing along with Antonio, two gun shots rang out, one right after the other, and my heart stopped beating for an instant as Jay and I skidded out into the alley way to see Antonio pinning Ernesto to the ground.

I spotted a Glock .45 on the ground by Ernesto's hand and kicked it away from him with my boot, keeping my aim locked on his head. "Where's my son!" Antonio screamed into his face. Ernesto flinched and tried to squirm away from him. I backed away slightly, trying to catch my breath as Voight took my place.

"Get out of here!" Voight yelled furiously, at the homeless man digging through the dumpster a few feet away. He scurried off in a hurry.

"He knows Antonio, do what you got to do," Voight whispered, viciously as he knelt down beside Ernesto's head and fished through his jacket pocket pulling out a pocket knife. Antonio accepted it and groaned as he held Ernesto still beneath him.

"Do it," Voight instructed glaring at Ernesto. He was the lowest piece of scum there was.

"Where's my son?" Antonio hissed, holding the knife at Ernesto's neck. He squirmed and whimpered avoiding making eye contact with Antonio.

I guess this is what Voight meant when he told me they do things differently here. It sort of felt wrong that I was okay with how we were handling this. This asshole knows where Diego is. He has too.

"Abogado! Abogado!" Ernesto cried out, trying to shove Antonio off of him.

"No, no, no there ain't no lawyers around here, ese." He spat back at him, as I lowered my gun slightly glancing at Jay and Lindsay. They were watching both ends of the alley.

"You've got about three minutes before this alley is packed full of uniforms." Voight hissed at Antonio, as sirens sounded off in the distance.

"I'll start with an eye." Antonio snapped out, as he held the point of the pocket knife directly above Ernesto's eye as he struggled beneath. I felt my heart beating rapidly against my rib cage and my eyes darted to Jays. He was seriously going to stab this guys eye out if he didn't talk.

"Do it Antonio!" Voight ordered, his voice full of rage. It was hard for me to stand here and watch this happening before my eyes. But, if it meant getting him to talk I wasn't going to object.

"Where's my son!" Antonio screamed again, his face was flushed and tears welled in his eyes as he held the knife closer to Ernesto's skin, just placing it below his eye and pressing ever so gently. Ernesto flinched and cried out as the sirens became louder.

"Antonio, you need to make a choice and quick." I said calmly, kneeling down next to him. He glanced at me and swallowed the lump in his throat as he held the knife over Ernesto. He screamed as he fought his inner thoughts and what he thought best.

"I can't." He whispered after a long moment, and tossed the knife off to the side. He got up and rolled Ernesto over and slapped the cuffs on him and yanked him to his feet…


	11. Chapter 11: Safe & Sound

**Chapter 11: Safe &amp; Sound**

**Sam's Point of View**

I stood on the other side of the two way mirror and watched Ernesto as Antonio questioned him. He sat with his cuffed hands resting on the metal table and his head hung low avoiding making any form of eye contact with Antonio. Antonio paced the floor behind Ernesto and sighed, restlessly. He was getting nowhere fast with this prick.

Everyone's heard the rumors about Hank Voight and the way he runs his team. His methods were unorthodox and illegal, but I can't say that he's wrong for encouraging Antonio to take matters into his own hands. Not when there's an eight year old little out there waiting to be rescued.

"Is he making any progress?" Jay questioned hopeful, as he walked into the room closing the door behind him. He stood beside me as I shook my head at a loss for words.

"Not really, he just keeps trying to lawyer up." I sighed, glancing at Jay.

"I thought you could use this," Jay said, offering me a Starbucks coffee. One of the rookies must have gone on a required coffee run. I've had my fair share of those runs.

"You are my hero," I smiled, accepting the coffee gratefully. I felt exhausted physically and emotionally and the day was only half over.

"Well I was a soldier," Jay smirked and then sipped on his own coffee as we watched Antonio through the glass. I playfully rolled my eyes, and glanced at Jay when he wasn't looking. He had stubble on his face that gave him a nice four o'clock shadow.

"Second time, Ernesto, you're looking at life. But, we can say that Pulpo came in, threatened you, and forced you to help them out." Antonio seethed, staring intently at Ernesto. His eyes darted up and met Antonio's but they were glazed over and unresponsive.

"Abogado!" Ernesto insisted, for the third time. They've been going round and round and round in there for over two hours, and every question Antonio tossed at he replied with the same word, Abogado.

I'm ready to shove a lawyer up this guy's ass.

I clenched the side of my coffee cup in my hands and felt the warmth from the liquid inside burning the palm of my hand slightly.

"No, no! We're gonna talk about my son! Diego! Eight years old! Where I'm from, that's off-limits." Antonio yelled, agitated. He slammed his hands down on the table with a thud and glared at Ernesto as he sat there expressionless and emotionless. Does this guy not have a heart? He must not if he helped kidnap a small defenseless child...

"I'm glad I wasn't Antonio back there." I blurted out, staring blankly through the glass on the wall.

"Oh, I wish I was," Jay replied quietly, leaning against the wall beside the glass. His jaw flexed as he crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, his eyes fixated on Ernesto.

"What would you have done?" I asked curiously, looking at up at him. He was at least a head taller than me.

"If anyone ever hurt anyone that I love or care about, I'm talking kids, girlfriend, parents, anyone. I'd be going to jail. It's as simple as that." Jay admitted honestly, causing me to admire him a bit. I wouldn't doubt that he wouldn't think twice before going after someone to defend the ones he loves.

He was a soldier after all, it's in his blood.

When it was obvious Antonio wasn't getting anywhere with Ernesto he stormed out of

the interrogation room in a fit of rage, leaving Voight alone with Ernesto. He'd sat across from Ernesto quietly and observed letting Antonio take the lead during the questioning. He was studying Ernesto, trying to see what made him tick and if there was anything we could use against him.

Jay and I returned to our desks to wait and see if this jerk would crack. I didn't see it happening. At least not right away. I decided to finish filling out the packet of papers Sargent Platt had given me on my first day and took them downstairs to her in the lobby. They were only what? Three-four days late. I hoped to just leave them in the paper bin on her desk and scurry back upstairs.

Platt stood behind her desk talking to who I recognized to be Laura, Antonio's wife, and another young woman and his daughter Eva. I left the packet of papers on the counter and walked over towards them.

"Oh, good, I was just about to call upstairs. Could you escort them up to see Antonio?" Platt asked, as I approached them. I nodded my head in agreement.

"Of course, just follow me." I said quietly, giving them a warm smile. Laura's eyes were swollen and puffy from crying, and worrying about her little boy. How she is up walking around right now is beyond me. If I were her I would be curled in a ball somewhere crying my eyes out.

Kids, where always a sour subject for Ruzek and I. It's not that I never wanted kids, because I do someday, just not right now. His mother wanted a grandchild, and I wanted live my life a bit, before I have to dedicate my life to taking care of a child. I wanted to succeed at my job for a few years. Ruzek's mother had the nerve to bring up babies, and when we would be popping one out every chance she got. It pissed me off, to say the least.

"You're Sam, right? You were at the bakery?" Laura asked arching one eyebrow at me, as I stopped at the cage door to punch in my passcode to allow us access to the top floor.

"Yeah, I'm Sam. How are you holding up?" I asked quietly, as we walked up the stairs slowly.

"I'm not even thinking about that right now, I'm just going." Laura whispered giving me a tearful look. I squeezed her elbow as we made it to the top of the stairs.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Antonio asked surprised, coming out of the break room with a cup of coffee in his hand.

He sat the cup down on his desk as Eva ran and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her like he never wanted to let her go.

"We couldn't sit at home another minute." Eva whispered, burying her face into Antonio's side. Laura leaned in and kissed him as he pulled her into a side hug.

"Sam, this is my sister Gabriella." Antonio said introducing me to his sister.

She was a short petite girl with auburn colored hair. She gave me a weak smile as we shook hands. It was awkward meeting his family, especially under these dire circumstances, but still nice to meet them all.

"What's happening? What do we know?" She Laura questioned looking at her husband expectantly. He ran his hand over his chin and shared a glance with me.

"Sam, would you mind taking Eva and Gabriella somewhere comfortable, get them whatever they need?" He asked, holding his wife's hand and leaning down to kiss Eva on top of the head.

"Sure, just follow me." I said, leading them back into the break room.

There was a table and chairs and a small blue couch shoved against the far wall. It was the comfiest spot I could think to put them for the time being. Eva sat down in a chair and rested her hands on the table with slumped shoulders, as Gabriella joined her.

I rifled through the cabinets hanging on the wall and pulled out what snacks I could find, and set them on the table. Eva stared at the pile of mini Oreo cookies and Doritos for a second before turning her head away uninterested.

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry." She mumbled, wiping the corners of her eyes where tears had started to form. I felt my heart breaking for Antonio's family.

"So, what do you do guys know?" Gabriella asked, looking at me intently as I pulled out a chair and sat down across the table from Eva.

"I don't really have any information that I can give out, but the entire Chicago Police Department is doing everything they can. We've even reached out to other precincts and brought more men and women on board to widen the search." I explained as much as I could. I scratched the back of my neck and glanced over at Eva.

She lowered her head as the tears poured out of her eyes. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed uncontrollably. "The last thing I said to Diego was that he was annoying." She mumbled between sobs. Gabriella reached over and rubbed her shoulders, trying her best to console her while I got her a box of tissues off the counter behind me.

"I have two older brothers so trust me when I say this, I know annoying brothers. What was Diego doing to you?" I asked, trying to help calm her down slightly. I handed her a few tissues and knelt down beside her chair and rubbed her back gently, trying to help Gabriella soothe her.

"He was shooting laser bullets at me with a Lego gun." She said in between taking deep breathes. I smiled half-heartedly, and lowered my eyes trying to think of what to say to her to make her feel even just a little bit better.

"When I went through the academy to become a police officer and then a detective, they told us never to make promises to people because we never know how things are going to turn out, but Eva I am making you a promise, and I never ever break a promise. We will find your little brother and he will annoy you for years to come sweetheart. We won't stop until he's home, safe and sound." I told her calmly, feeling the prickling sensation forming in my own eyes. I swallowed the lump in my throat as Gabriella mouthed 'thank you' to me for saying what I'd said.

As I glanced up, I noticed Jay standing in the doorway, he gestured for me to step outside of the break room so I did, shutting the door behind me.

"What's up?" I asked searching his face.

"Voight wants to see us all, downstairs." Jay instructed, as we started to head to the basement.

"Antonio and Voight finally broke Ernesto. He gave us the name of the guy that supposedly has Diego, some dude named Mateo. Jin's trying to triangulate his cell, and get a location on the guy." Jay informed me as we took the stairs to the basement.

I felt giddy inside at the fact that they had finally broken him and gotten some useful information. The adrenaline in me was already starting to pump with each step that we took.

"How'd they break him? He was so clammed up, there's no way he just confessed all of that." I blurted out, giving Jay a sideways glance. He licked his lips and let his eyes meet my own.

"Voight has different techniques, as you saw earlier today, with the whole knife to the eye thing. When he wants something he knows exactly how to get it." Jay explained, as I nodded my head and read between the lines. Most likely they beat the information out of him...

I knew Voight ran that way, but the way Antonio tossed the knife away earlier today, told me he didn't have that in him. Then again, to bring his son home, he'd probably do just about anything.

"I have no objections." I whispered, dryly as we walked into Jin's office and joined the others.

We huddled behind Jin and his computer as he did his thing, trying to find a location on Mateo. He had tapped into Mateo's cell and we could hear him talking in another language, but he wasn't saying anything about Diego.

"He's running, but nothing about Diego." Lindsay said, confirming my own thoughts. I ran my hand through my hair as Jay stood beside me and rested his hand on the table next to mine. I could feel him literally breathing down my neck, but didn't dare move for some reason.

"I've pinged his cell to the west Adams tower, triangulating with the city center." Jin explained, pulling up a map on the screen and typing codes onto the keyboard with his delicate little fingers.

"I want men deployed to all major transportation routes out of the city Midway, O'Hare, I'm including all expressways." Voight instructed Burgess and Atwater, they were standing behind him waiting for orders. They nodded their heads and headed out of the room.

"He's at Union Station!" Jin all but yelled, as his computer pinged indicating his search had finally triangulated Mateo's location. I felt my heart beat increase when he said it, but I couldn't tell if it was because we were close to finding Diego, or if it had anything to do with Jay standing so close to me. The hairs on the back of my neck were on end, and not in a bad way.

"Everyone head out!" Voight barked, as we all dispersed out of the room towards the parking garage.

We arrived at Union Station twenty minutes later. In all the time I spent living in Chicago I have never stepped foot inside this place. But, I know that it's one of the busiest rail terminals in the United States. I remember reading that in a history book or a news article online or something a long time ago. The vaulted ceilings made me feel like a tiny bug wondering around inside.

Voight instructed everyone to fan out and scan the place for any sign on Diego or Mateo. Jay and Antonio took off down the marble staircase right after we came inside the station following the mini locater Jin gave us to follow Mateo's cell signal. If Mateo was still here we'd find him.

Travelers with duffle bags cut in front of Lindsay and me as we scoured the main lobby. Four men in army uniforms greeted their wives and children possibly returning home from an army base off to the side while other travelers and tourists bustled about going where they needed to go.

I kept my eyes open as I scanned the lobby looking for Diego, but still hadn't spotted him. Dammit, I sighed looking around. The lights inside glinted off the freshly polished granite floors as I walked along cautiously.

The radio in my ear crackled as I heard Antonio's voice come in, "He ditched the phone, everyone fan out and find them!" He snapped over the radio, as I pressed the piece in my ear so I could hear what he'd said better.

If he ditched the phone that means he's smart enough to know that we're probably tracking him, which means he must have a quick exit strategy planned out. "Hey, let's check out front." I suggested to Lindsay as she nodded her head in agreement following alongside me.

We headed up the marble steps and back outside into the cool night air. The city was lit up beautifully tonight. Cars sped by, while other buses departed for their new destinations. I turned on my heel and glanced up the street to see an elderly couple being helped out of a cab. As I looked up the street my eyes landed on a little boy standing with a tall scruffy looking man in front of double bus doors.

My heart pounded loudly in my ears as I realized it was Diego. He looked alright, which was good news. "I see him." I whispered quietly, kneeling down to retie my boots to make myself less suspicious. I heard the radio in my ear crackle once again.

"They are about to board a bus for Indianapolis." Lindsay spoke in my earpiece as I glanced at her over my shoulder then let my eyes flitter back to Diego.

"Wait for us," Voight's instructed, his voice echoed in my earpiece.

I straightened up and wondered back over beside Lindsay and pretended to be looking at the maps hanging in enclosed cases anchored to the wall. Mid-America bus number 949 is now boarding for Indianapolis. Mid-America bus number 949 is now boarding for Indianapolis. I heard go out over the loud speaker, and glanced over my shoulder to see Mateo and Diego boarding the bus.

My foot started to lightly tap the ground as I pulled a black beanie out of my black pea coat pocket and pulled it on snugly over my ears, watching as the last few remaining people boarded the bus.

"He's right there, we need to do something." I whispered, looking at Lindsay anxiously.

"Voight said to wait. We've got eyes on them." She assured me, as I chewed the inside of my jaw.

"Yeah, for how long? That bus is about to depart. I'm not taking any chances." I whispered to her, before heading over towards the bus. I felt Lindsay grab my arm, and spun to look at her. I felt my eyes bugging out of my head as I pulled out of her grasp.

"I need to go with you," she hissed, shaking her head. We were doing a stellar job of staying inconspicuous. I shouldn't get on the bus alone, but I remembered seeing a picture on Lindsay's desk of her and Diego and Eva. If Diego sees her he might freak out, and end up getting hurt, which is what we are all trying to avoid. If he sees me he won't recognize me because I'm new.

I heard the snapping and hissing of the bus as it idled by the curb.

"He might recognize you, and that could make things worse." I replied, walking backwards a few steps before turning and jogging to the bus. I slapped my hand on the door just as the doors were sliding closed.

I lifted my shirt and flashed the badge on my waist when the driver looked over at me expectantly. She went rigid at the sight of my badge and looked in the rearview mirror nervously. My eyes darted toward the back of the bus, instantly spotting Mateo and Diego. The driver gestured for me to head on back. I gave her a tight smile and wondered towards the back of the bus, my nostrils taking in the thick smell of diesel.

I sat down about three seats back behind Mateo and Diego and felt the bus start to move as we departed from the parking lot.

"Daley's on the bus," I heard Lindsay say through my earpiece, slumping down in the seat a bit as I fished my cell out of my pocket.

"We're coming to you, kid. Just ride it out," Voight said, as my stomach twisted on the inside. I watched Mateo lean down and whisper something in Diego's ear, but couldn't hear what he'd said to him.

The bus chugged along the highway slowly, like a turtle. The lights lining the highway illuminated the dark night sky, casting orange shadows throughout the bus. I felt my phone buzz in my hand indicating I had a new text message, as the bus made a wide angled right hand turn. I glanced down at my cell to see a new text from Voight, Ten minutes, it read.

I had no idea what they had planned, all I knew was Diego was alive and sitting three feet away from me, and I wasn't about to let anything happen to this innocent little boy, even if it ended up killing me.

The bus started to slow, and speed up and slow again ten minutes later, almost as if the engine were conking out, like it had done several times on my Suburban. I glanced up the aisle as people on the bus began to sigh and mumble, "What's going on?"

"Sorry folks, it appears that we are experiencing some engine trouble. I'm just going to pull over up here and take a look, sorry for the inconvenience." The driver said out over the loud speaker, as I glanced out the window to see Voight's dark blue Durango flying past us on the road.

The bus came to a screeching halt underneath an overpass, as I scooted to the edge of my seat, feeling my foot tapping nervously. It was one of my biggest issues. When my nerves are shot, or I'm anxious my foot taps. It's something I hate, but have no control over. One thing I got from my mom, she does the same thing and it drives me insane, yet I do it myself.

"I've already called another bus to come and take you where you need to go, so don't worry." The driver bellowed from the front of the bus. Travelers shifted uncomfortably in their seats and mumbled to themselves, complaining about the wait. I rolled my eyes internally.

"Here comes the back up bus now folks, sorry for the inconvenience!" The driver said curtly, as she stood at the front of the bus.

I heard the engine of another bus and saw headlights shining behind us, as I glanced out the side of my window. Mateo's head was looking straight ahead. He hadn't moved since the bus stopped.

The doors to the bus swooshed open, and in came a gust of cool air along with Olinsky. He wore a dark blue jacket and pants just like the woman driver. He gave us all a warm smile as he started down the aisle, making eye contact with me, but not lingering. I felt slightly at ease knowing I wasn't alone, my team was nearby. If I can even call them my team yet. Can I? I mean Voight said this was a trial basis…

"All right, we're real sorry for the delay, folks, but we've got a tried and true new rig out here that'll get you where you're going right away. Now, what I need from all of you is to disembark, grab your luggage, and head on over to the next bus in an orderly fashion." Olinsky explained, keeping his voice light and cheerful. Playing the part out perfectly. It was a little creepy how well that guy could transform himself into who ever he needed to be to help the case.

"Can you do that for me?" He asked, giving everyone a grin. "Thank you!" He boasted when passengers started to get out of their seats and retrieve their luggage from the overhang.

I stayed seated, along with Mateo and Diego as passengers scuffled down the aisle and off the bus one by one completely unaware of the danger sitting among them.

When it came down to just me sitting in the back of the bus, I had no choice but to get to my feet and pretend to be leaving. Mateo and Diego stayed seated as I passed by them slowly. I stole a glance at Diego as I went by. He looked terrified with Mateos arm draped over his shoulder.

I wasn't about to step foot off the bus, not without Diego. So, I stopped walking and stood beside the driver to our bus and smiled, "Is everything going to be okay?" I asked, trying to by more time.

"Oh yeah, yeah everything will be alright. Just some engine trouble." The driver replied, sensing what I was doing and playing along.

I watched Mateo get up and pull Diego out of the seat and push him in front of himself, protectively draping and arm over his shoulder and start to walk towards the front of the bus. "I'm actually heading to Indianapolis for the first time to visit my long lost cousin. Have you ever been to Indianapolis?" I asked casually.

"I've been there quite a few times, it's a beautiful state." The driver replied, straightening out the bring of her hat as I glanced at Mateo and Diego standing in the aisle. He wasn't moving, but looking out the windows and glaring at me.

"Policia?" He yelled, pulling at gun out from beneath his coat at the exact same time I drew my own weapon. The driver ran off the bus screaming in holy terror.

"Don't move!" I commanded, keeping a tight grip on the butt of my gun and my finger on the trigger ready to pull it. Diego squirmed and started to cry as I stepped forward slightly.

"Drop your weapon!" I yelled through gritted teeth, fixing my aim straight for his head. He held the gun to Diego's head and pushed it in taking the safety off with a loud metallic click.

"Diego it's going to be okay, sweetie. Just look at me!" I said, feeling my hands trembling and the adrenaline coursing through my veins. Diego blinked away tears and focused on me as I stepped closer a little more.

"Drop your weapon!" I ordered again, sternly.

"I will kill him…" Mateo said menacingly as he glared at me with haunted eyes and a smirk I wanted to smack off.

"You won't shoot me, nah. You won't do it!" He bellowed pulling Diego tighter against him.

"Don't test me. You don't need to do this. He's a little boy, let him walk off this bus and you can have me." I offered, watching his facial expression waver slightly, before he jammed the gun into Diego's head once again.

"Sam, hold onto something tight." I heard Ruzek crackle in my ear.

Quickly, I grabbed a hold of the nearby metal post on the back of one of the seats and felt the bus rock as something rammed the back of it. Mateo lost his balance and released Diego, sending him straight into my arms. I grabbed him and pulled him down behind me.

I heard the shot before I even realized Antonio had ran onto the bus and pulled the trigger. Mateo fell to the ground as Diego sobbed into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him tightly and picked him up into my arms. "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay. You were so brave, buddy."

"Hey, little man, daddies here. I'm here." Antonio cooed as I handed Diego over to him. He hugged him tightly and sobbed.

I stared at Mateos body lying in the aisle, a blood pool forming near his head and chest cavity. I felt my heart beating a thousand times per minute. My eyes darted back and forth as I stumbled off the bus, and puked on the pavement then walking away from it, hands shaking and hear pounding in my ears. A slick later of sweat beaded across my forehead and down the small of my back as I stood in the middle of the highway with my hands through my hair taking deep breaths.

Flashing blue and red lights strobed across the asphalt as cops rushed all around me quickly. Although everything I saw seemed to be moving in slow motion. Paramedics pushed a stretcher over towards Antonio so Diego could be checked out.

Voight, and Jay were walking towards me as I finally let my hands fall to my sides only to realize they were trembling uncontrollably.

"You alright?" Voight called out, as he approached me, Jay by his side.

"I'm fine," I lied, holding myself together. I figured I was about to get my ass chewed out for not following orders.

"You did good, kid." Voight whispered, as he took me by the elbow and walked me off to the side of the road towards a cruiser. He patted my shoulder and stared at me.

"We'll talk about making you a permanent member of the team tomorrow, kid." He said, giving the top of my shoulder a light squeeze before walking off to talk to a few other officers.

"You okay?" Jay asked as soon a s Voight was out of earshot. He looked at me innocently and full of concern. I glanced at me hands still shaking and swallowed the lump in my throat before nodding my head.

"I'm fine, I think. I don't know…" I rambled, as Jay slung his arm over my shoulder and led me towards a different car.

"Put your hands in your pockets. It gets easier." He whispered as we walked. I followed his instructions and placed my hands in my coat pockets and glanced at him, fully aware of his arm around my neck. He smelled like mints and aftershave, the kind of smell that you'd remember.

I realized as we walked all the eyes that landed on me, how in the spotlight I was. Jay was trying to make me feel better and take some of the attention off of me.

"What do you say we get a drink?" Jay said, after removing his arm as we ended up by Voights Durango.

"I say hell yes." I agreed, maybe a little too quickly. I noticed my heart hadn't stopped pounding either and wondered if it was because of Jay instead of the shooting…


	12. Chapter 12: My Team

**Chapter 12: My Team**

**Samantha's Point of View**

After giving my final statements recapping what happened with Mateo and Diego on the bus, I met up with Jay at Molly's for a much needed drink, or two in my case. It was still sinking in that Diego was back with his family unharmed. He was lucky, very lucky. This could have ended so many other ways, none of them good. But, it didn't and for that fact alone I am beyond grateful. It was close to midnight, but I was nowhere near being tired enough to go home and crash. I was too wired from everything that had just gone down. Plus, I've always been a night owl.

Jay sat across from me, with his elbows on the table holding a bottle of beer in his hand, glancing over my shoulder every so often at the Bulls game playing on the flat screen behind me. "Dammit, Brooks had that shot." Jay hissed, shaking his head and then taking a swig of beer.

I was sitting crooked in my chair so I could see the game and still talk to Jay. I laughed and glanced at him slightly, "Brooks always cracks at the lineup. It's a given, especially at away games." I informed him, before sipping my own beer.

"You're a Bulls fan, huh?" Jay asked, smirking and arching an eyebrow surprised.

"Please tell me you're not one of those guys that thinks women are too stupid to understand sports, because if you are, I can't be held liable for what may or may not happen to that pretty face." I joked, feeling the second beer I had hitting my head like a freight train.

"Oh, so you think I have a pretty face?" Jay questioned, giving me a sly grin, while I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself." I laughed, nibbling on the complimentary pretzels sitting in the basket on the table. I hated pretzels; I just liked to suck the salt off of them and then spit them out. But, I just chewed them now.

"Hey, I think women being interested in sports or whatever they want is sexy." Jay admitted, running a hand along the back of his neck and then stretching his arms up over his head, slightly pulling up the hem of his shirt revealing a small amount of his skin. I stared at him a moment to long, before shaking my head and smirking, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Who are your teams?" He asked, reaching into the pretzel bowl at the same time as me, our fingers gently brushing against one another's. I pulled my hand out quickly, and tucked some hair behind my ear.

"I was born and raised on the Bulls, Blackhawks, and the Bears. It was sort of hard not to love them, growing up with two brothers." I explained grinning, as the game went to a commercial.

"Bears fan? You know, I've got an extra ticket to the game on Sunday, if you're interested." Jay offered, causing my eyes to light up like a Christmas tree. I wanted to go to that game desperately, but wondered if it would be awkward to go with Jay. I mean we hardly know each other.

"As friends of course," Jay added, after I hadn't replied for a few seconds. I took a drink of beer to buy myself some time, and swallowed hard, feeling the beer go down and come right back up into the back of my throat.

"I have family dinner on Sundays, it's kind of mandatory. But, maybe I can get out of it. Can I let you know?" I asked hopeful, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah, of course, just text me or something and we'll figure it out. Otherwise, I'm going alone." Jay replied, letting his eyes shift back to the basketball game on the television momentarily.

Molly's was relatively empty tonight. A few older men with beer bellies sat at the bar, and two blonde girls did shots at a corner in the back. I still felt restless and keyed up from everything and very jumpy. The blonde girl in the back slammed her shot glass down with a little too much force, causing me to jump slightly in my seat. I'd hoped Jay hadn't noticed, but of course he had.

"You okay?" He questioned, giving me a concerned look. His blue eyes stared directly into my green ones intently, causing my heartbeat to quicken. His eyes flicked down to my hands on the table caressing my beer, shaking every few seconds.

"I'm fine, seriously." I laughed, "Just a little jumpy. The hand shaking is normal for me." I assured him.

"You ever been in a situation like tonight before?" He asked quietly, as I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I ignored it when I saw that it was my mother. She's probably drunk and out of booze again. I'm not in the mood to deal with her right now.

"Once, but not like a hostage situation. Well, I guess maybe it was, me being the hostage," I laughed dryly, trying to gather my thoughts, feeling slightly flustered in front of him.

"I don't really know. It was my first week as a beat cop; we got a 10-71 over the radio. The shooter was seen fleeing from the scene on foot. He had an orange shirt on and greasy black hair. So, we get there and there's a dead body in the living room. I was told to check the perimeter to see if we could find the weapon or anything the suspect might have dropped." I explained, as Jay stared at me intently, taking in every single word I said. He didn't care about the game when I was talking, just what I had to say, which honestly felt kind of nice.

"Me trying to be the overachiever, decides to check out the abandoned industrial building across the street from the house, thinking maybe the guy dumped it in there or something. I'm walking all through this building alone, my radios not working, so I couldn't check in with my T.O. I find the gun on the second floor, and the shooter." I went on; remembering it like it was yesterday.

"No way," Jay chimed in, completely lost in my story.

"I'm expecting some huge guy, like twice my size or something like that, but instead a scrawny terrified teenage boy is staring back at me. Before I could get the gun off the floor, he dives for it and picks up and aims it at me. I pull mine, and were at a stalemate for twenty minutes." I said, then took a drink of beer.

"You have to shoot him?" Jay asked quietly, gravely almost.

"Thankfully, no. I was able to talk him down. But, I was terrified. I was scared to death of having to shoot this poor kid, and I was terrified he'd shoot me. That was the first day I realized I had the hand tremors or shakes or whatever you want to call it. Every time I draw my gun now, it happens. It never happened in the academy, which is weird." I continued to ramble on and on. I felt slightly dizzy, and warm and fuzzy all over from the alcohol.

"You were never in any real danger in the academy. It makes sense; it doesn't make you any less of a cop though." Jay insisted, giving me a sly grin.

"Thanks, for hanging with me." I said, shyly, as I felt my phone vibrating again. I pulled it out noticing it was my mother again. I sighed, and sat my phone on the table, hitting ignore.

"You need to get that?" Jay said gesturing towards my phone. "No, it's just my mom," I replied.

"You always ignore calls from your mom?" He laughed, finishing the remaining liquid in his bottle and gesturing for another one to be brought over.

"No," I lied, chewing on my lip, "We have a complicated relationship." I informed him, not wanting to get into all the gory details of how my mother is a stone cold drunk half the time and a bitch the rest of the time.

"I get that, I've got some complicated shit with my family too." He said after a moment. I wondered what his family was like for a second as I stared at him discreetly while the barmaid set two more beers down on our table. Did his parents get along? Was his mother warm and kind?

My phone vibrated for the third time and I realized she wasn't going to stop calling unless I answered.

"Sorry," I apologized to Jay, picking up my phone.

My ear instantly filled with loud music and people shouting and yelling, "Mom?" I asked, wondering where the hell she was. A small pit formed in my stomach. "Mom? Are you there?" I spoke again.

"Not your mom, Sam. Its Joe down at Woodbury's on 5th. Your momma's here causing trouble again, I need you to come and get her before I call the cops." Joe said, as my shoulders sunk involuntarily. I shook my head and started to pull my jacket off the back of my wooden bar stool.

"I'll be right there." I snapped, hanging up the phone.

"Everything okay?" Jay asked innocently, looking at me.

"I've got to go, I'm sorry." I whispered, attempting to stand up, but feeling lightheaded. I gripped the table for support as Jay got up and grabbed my arm to keep me from face planting onto the tile floor.

"Yeah, I don't think you're going anywhere alone." Jay laughed, cocking his head to the side and smirking at me, causing my cheeks to turn red instantly.

"I'm good, really. I need to go pick up my mother." I said, sighing and noticing Jays hand still on my arm. It felt warm where he touched my skin. I felt a shiver run down my spine as he moved his thumb slightly up and then down on my arm.

"You've had more to drink then me; I wouldn't be a very good cop if I let you drive. Now would I?" Jay pointed out, gently releasing my arm when he was sure I wouldn't fall.

I really didn't want his help. I didn't want him to see my mother in whatever state she may be in. Sometimes when she's had one to many she could get really mean and not filter her thoughts. Not that she filtered them all that much when she was sober.

"You're not going to let it go are you?" I snapped at him, as he blocked the path to the door.

"Nope," He replied, giving me a devilish grin.

"Fine, you can drive." I said, rolling my eyes and feeling my stomach churn.


	13. Chapter 13: Distant Memory

**A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken this long to update this story. As I mentioned in my previous note that I took down I have had a lot of health issues this past month, but I'm finally making a comeback! It's been awhile since I have written for Sam and Jay so I apologize if they seem a little of kilter in this chapter. Thank you so much for following/favoring/reviewing this story and for waiting this long for updates! I hope I still have some readers left! **

**Hope you like it!**

**Chapter 13: Distant Memory**

**Samantha's Point of View**

Woodbury's was a small bar my mother frequented quite a bit. It wasn't far from her place so it was the ideal hotspot for her. The place did a hell of a business on weeknights. Tonight being no exception; there was a line half way around the block of people waiting to get inside. It was mostly college girls looking to spend daddy's hard earned money on fireball whiskey shots. Jay and I made our way to the front of the line and flashed our badges to get inside quickly. I wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

As we were pushing our way through the crowds of people I spotted my mother on top of one of the side bars with a bottle of tequila in her hand swaying. Jay glanced at me as I froze in my tracks for an instant. She had on a short black dress slip and a wooly sweater hung off her shoulders. Least her clothes are still on. Shaking my head I pushed through the crowd and glared up at her as she continued to sway singing along to the jukebox, Jay following silently behind me.

"Mom, come on. We need to go!" I ordered firmly, extending my hand out for her to take. She swatted my hand away and took a swig of the liquor blatantly ignoring my request.

_"__One way or another I'm gonna find ya. I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha. One way or another I'm gonna win ya. I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha."_ She belted out into the bar, singing along with jukebox. People gawked at her like she was some act in a runaway circus. It was embarrassing to say the least. This is exactly what I didn't want Jay to see.

"Somebody shut that bitch up. Get her the hell out of here before I call the cops on her drunken ass." Some older balding guy hollered from behind causing me to glare at him. Jay turned around and flashed his badge at the man.

"We are the cops, so why don't you shut the hell up and mind your business and continue eating your corn chips, okay there, bud?" He hurled back at him with a smirk before turning his attention back to my mother and me.

"Mom, we need to go. You need to come down from there. You're going to hurt yourself." I told her, reaching for her again.

"I ain't done anything wrong! I'm just enjoying a nice night out on the town like everyone else you see here." She hollered back at me over the music, slurring her words tremendously.

"This is your fault! You little bitch. You've gotten me blacklisted from every other bar in the city." She smacked my hand away and took another drink as I shook my head. Jay stepped forward and touched my shoulder lightly causing me to glance at him, he wanted to try and get her down so I stepped back while he offered his hand up to her.

"Ma'am I'm gonna need you to come down from there. It's not safe to be standing on the bar." He ordered, but not really. He was being kind and genuine as he held his hand up to help her off the bar. My mother smirked and eyed him up and down before finally taking his hand. I took the other hand and we steadied her as she lowered herself down off the bar. She sunk into Jay's side too inebriated to hold herself up on her own two feet.

I placed her arm over my shoulder while Jay took the other side and we slowly led her out of the bar. The bass and beat of the music from inside faded out as we walked outside onto the street.

"Who might this handsome someone might be? If only I was twenty years younger." She stammered touching Jay's chest looking at him with a smile as we helped her into the back of his car. Jay held back a small smirk while I fought the urge to strangle her. Is she actually hitting on my partner? This was wonderful. I didn't want anyone to see her this way, least of all him.

Once all of her limbs were safely in the back of the car we shut the door. I shook my head as Jay opened the passenger side door for me. I was at a loss for words right now. God knows what he must be thinking right now about me, about her, about my life. I glanced into the back seat to see my mother lying down on the seat looking queasy, as Jay got into the car. I gave Jay directions on how to get to my mother's place and remained silent the rest of the drive. What could I say?

Jay parked his car on the street and cut off the engine, giving me a small sideways glance. I peered into the backseat to see my mother lying there lost in her own little world. It must be nice there because she's spent more time in her own world than she has in this one my entire life. Jay and I get out of the car and opened the back door. "Okay, mom, time to wake up." I say gently, slowly helping her sit up. Her limbs are loose and it feels like she weighs a ton. She mumbles the words "I feel sick," a moment too late and leans forward hurling all over the floor of Jay's car.

"Don't worry about it, let's just get her inside." Jay insists as we haul her out of the car and stumble our way towards the front of her building. Luckily, her key is in her sweater pocket. We manage to get her upstairs into her place and on the couch. It's closer than trying to get her into her bedroom.

The place is a total disaster. And by disaster I mean it looks like a hurricane blew in. Empty liquor bottles still line the coffee and end tables and paper plates with dried on food line floor followed by lumps and loads of dirty laundry. You know, it's a wonder she has a liver left at this point. I made my way into the kitchen and rinsed out a glass and filled it with water and drug the trash can into the living room for her to use as a puke bucket.

"She always been like this?" Jay finally asks, grabbing an old wooly blanket off the back of the couch and covering her up with it.

"For as long as I can remember. I'll just let her sleep it off, and check on her in the morning." I reply quietly without looking him in the eye. My stomach is in knots looking at my own mother completely smashed lying on the couch. After sitting the glass of water down on the table I grab a roll of paper towels from beneath the sink and an empty plastic bag to clean the puke out of the back of Jay's car.

The cool night air envelopes Jay and I as we exit the building and head back to his car. I try my best not to gag as I clean up the throw up out of the backseat while Jay leans against the side of his car.

"I'm so sorry about this. I'll pay to have your car detailed." I tell him as I continue to try and wipe the puke stain out of the carpet.

"Don't worry about. I've had this car since college. It's seen worse than this." Jay informs me as I close the back door finally somewhat satisfied with the cleanup. He smirks at me deviously. For a brief moment I wonder what he was like in college. I'm sure popular and always in trouble.

"Come on, I'll take you home. Jules' funeral is in the morning." Jay says as I toss the bag of trash in a nearby garbage bin. This has been one hell of a night. The little bit of alcohol I'd had earlier has long since left my system and I can finally feel how tired I truly am. I nod my head and let Jay usher me into the passenger seat, feeling his hand graze against the small of my back and just how much I actually like it.

"So your moms a big Blondie fan, huh?" Jay chuckles as we ride down the road. I give him a confused look and shake my head.

"The song she was singing in the bar? It was Blondie." He continues, causing me to roll my eyes and smirk a little.

"No, it was embarrassing." I finally admit with a sigh running a hand through my blonde hair.

"Hell, I get on bars and sing all the time." He adds after a quiet moment passes. I glance over at him in to see a smirk etched across his lips and can't help but crack a small smile myself. It was nice he was trying to make me feel a little bit better about the whole situation. I smiled as the light turned green and noticed Jay smiling too.

* * *

Jay offered to give me a ride to Jules service in the morning and then take me to pick up my suburban at Molly's afterward when he dropped me off. I leaned against the wall to the elevator as I rode it to the third floor and stifled a yawn. I'd be out as soon as my head hit the pillow. This has just been a very long day. The elevator doors dinged as the glided open once I reached my floor. I was thankful my door was just down the hall and to the right. I'm not sure my feet would carry me much further. As I rounded the corner I noticed my door was slightly ajar.

My hand instinctively went for my gun. I grasped it firmly as I froze in my tracks. Jax sat in front of the door with his head cocked to the side. I locked my door this morning when I left for work. My heart rate intensified as I took a few steps closer towards the door. Jax meowed and rubbed himself against my leg as I gently pushed the door to my apartment open slowly. It was dark inside, except for the light on above the stove glowing up ahead that I always leave on for Jax and the TV. Normal people would wait outside and call the cops, but since I am the cops I'm just going on it.

Slowly and quietly with my gun drawn I procced down the hallway, Jax hot on my heels. Taking a deep breath as I round the corner I see a dark shadow move behind me in the mirror hanging on the wall and whip around letting my gun collide with his face.

"Dammit, Sam!" He yells out in pain, as the lights get switched on. Standing before me with blood gushing out of his nose is my older brother Brett.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why are you wondering around in the dark? Why is my cat in the hallway! I could have shot you! You idiot!" I yell back at him as I lead him into the kitchen to give him a towel for his nose. I watch him lean over the sink and spit a mouthful of blood into the sink and place my gun on the counter. It feels like I just had a heart attack, my heart is beating in my ears and my stomach has twisted itself upside down it seems. I could kill him for scaring me like this. I almost pissed my pants.

"You scared the shit out of me, Brett. What the hell." I questioned incredulously before wondering into the bathroom to find the first aid kit.

Brett stood leaning against the kitchen counter by the sink with a dishtowel pressed tightly against his nose to soak up the blood. God, if I broke his nose I'll never live it down. He's only two years older than I am but he towers over me. "What are you doing here?"

"Jess kicked me out; I needed a place to crash for the night." He explains while I examine his nose. It's busted but not broken. Jess his girlfriend of the month. My brother's never had a serious relationship his entire life. I must get it from him then.

"Is she the stripper?" I ask remembering hardly nothing about a girl named Jess. I think I met her once. Brett sneers and winces as I dab some antibiotic ointment on the gash beside his nose.

"She was an exotic dancer, okay. That was Tina anyway, smartass. She was from like two months ago. Try and keep up." He replies causing me to laugh and nod my head. I'd need a dictionary to keep all of his girlfriend's straight. I step back and admire my bandage work and smack him lightly on the face causing him to wince once again. "That's for leaving the front door open and letting Jax out." I smirk.

"You and that damn cat." He mutters, heading over to the fridge and helping himself to the left over Chinese takeout. I remove my jacket and toss it on the counter. "You're out late? Where were you? Didn't your shift end like four hours ago?"

"It was a long day and a long case. My partner invited me out for drinks afterwards and then I had to go deal with mom at Woodbury's. That was a blast just _FYI_." I reply smartly, he acts like he's my father. It's sweet and annoying as hell.

"Good ole mommy dearest..." He half laughs out stuffing food in his mouth.

"You know, you and Mike could help look out for her sometimes." I offer hesitantly. Brett hasn't spoken to our mother in almost two years. I know why too. What happened wasn't her fault, but he blames her for it. I don't even blame her for it. I know even saying anything is a waste of breath but I have to try. Maybe they can get through to her better than I can.

"She's the mother, Sam. She's the one who's supposed to look after us. Not the other way around. If she wants to sit in that apartment all day and drink herself to death, then that's fine by me." He snaps back at me as he tosses the takeout container into the trash. I roll my eyes, hopping up onto the counter to sit down and remove my boots.

"You know he gets out soon, right?" Brett asked quietly, staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest. He gestured towards the envelope lying on the counter that I haven't dared to open yet, the Metropolitan Correctional Center emblem staring back at me.

"I got a letter in the mail too. There's going to be a hearing soon. Mike and I are going. I think you should come too and make a statement. I don't want that bastard out." Brett seethed, while I stared at the envelope, my chest tightening slightly at the memory. I shook my head and hopped off the counter.

"I'm not going." I all but whisper before heading down the hall into my bedroom, Jax and Brett following behind me.

"Sam, do you really want him out walking around? You have to go. He doesn't deserve his freedom, not after what he did." He snapped back at me. "You know I keep thinking about it and how moms just as much to blame for what happened as he is."

"Brett, just shut the hell up!" I finally shout. It happened when I was fifteen. It's in the past. That's where I'd like to leave that memory.

"If she hadn't been drunk she would have been there to pick you up that night and it never would have happened." Brett reminded me as I sat down on the edge of my bed and closed my eyes pushing the memories as far away as possible. It happened and I can't change it, but I've made peace with it. Well, about as much peace as one can make.

"You can sleep on the couch." I offer standing up and shoving him out of my room and closing the door...


End file.
